Jann Wenner is speaking out. The 77-year-old Rolling Stone magazine founder is issuing a statement after being removed from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s board of directors for his comments in a New York Times interview.
During the interview, Jann said that Black and female musicians “didn’t articulate at the level” of the white musicians featured in his new book of interviews, The Masters. “Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” a rep for the organization later said in a statement.
Later on, Jann issued an apology via publisher Little, Brown & Company. Keep reading to find out more… “In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that diminished the contributions, genius and impact of Black and women artists and I apologize wholeheartedly for those remarks,” he said. “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.
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.
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