Rolling Stone Magazine Founder Removed from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Board After Controversial Comments on Black and Female Artists
Jann Wenner has been widely criticized for saying Black and female musicians were not "articulate" enough to be included in his upcoming book
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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has removed Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner from its board of directors.
The organization confirmed Wenner’s removal from the board in a statement to CNN on Sunday. The news comes after The New York Times published an interview with Wenner, 77, on Friday, discussing his upcoming book, The Masters, which features interviews he conducted over the years with various musicians — all notably White men — including John Lennon, Mick Jagger, Bono, Pete Townsend and Bruce Springsteen.
The longtime music journalist was asked why he didn’t include interviews with women or people of color, and his response drew wide criticism. “The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them,” he replied. “Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”
Wenner similarly dismissed Black musicians, saying, “Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”
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Wenner told the newspaper he selected the interviews he included in the book intuitively, while acknowledging he might face backlash for his choices.
“You know, just for public relations sake, maybe I should have gone and found one Black and one woman artist to include here that didn’t measure up to that same historical standard, just to avert this kind of criticism,” he said in the interview. “Which, I get it. I had a chance to do that.”
Amid growing criticism of his New York Times interview, Wenner issued a statement Saturday night via the book’s publisher, Little, Brown and Company, apologizing for his comments.
“The Masters is a collection of interviews I’ve done over the years that seemed to me to best represent an idea of rock ‘n’ roll’s impact on my world; they were not meant to represent the whole of music and its diverse and important originators but to reflect the high points of my career and interviews I felt illustrated the breadth and experience in that career,” he said in the statement, according to CNN.
“They don’t reflect my appreciation and admiration for myriad totemic, world-changing artists whose music and ideas I revere and will celebrate and promote as long as I live. I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologize and accept the consequences,” the statement continued.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for further comment.
Wenner co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967 and served as the magazine’s editor until 2019. He also co-founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1983.
