Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner has been removed from leadership of the Rock Hall after controversial comments

CNN
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jan wenner, The co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine has been removed from the board of directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation after facing widespread criticism for comments he made in The New York Times. interview I posted on Friday about musicians and black people.

“Jan Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” a representative for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation told CNN in a statement on Sunday.

Weiner spoke with the Times about his upcoming book, “The Masters,” which includes interviews he conducted with artists such as John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and others during his time as president of Rolling Stone.

In the interview, he spoke about his decision not to conduct interviews with women and black artists, and his statements on the subject were widely criticized.

“People had to meet some criteria, but that was just kind of my personal interest and love for them,” he said, adding: “As far as the women, none of them were articulate enough on that intellectual level.”

He continued: “Stevie Wonder, a genius, isn’t he? I suppose that when you use a broad word like “masters,” the error is in the use of that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? “I mean, they didn’t talk at that level.”

“For the sake of PR, I probably should have gone and found one black artist and one female artist to include here that doesn’t live up to the same historical standard, just to avoid that kind of criticism,” he told the outlet. “Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a (expletive) or anything. I wish I could interview Marvin Gaye. Maybe he would have been the guy. Maybe Otis Redding, if he’d been alive, would have been the guy.”

Weiner on Saturday issued a statement through Little, Brown and Company, publisher of The Masters, saying: “In my interview with The New York Times I made comments that belittled the contributions, genius and influence of black artists, women and myself. “I deeply apologize for those statements.”

“The Masters” is a collection of interviews I’ve conducted over the years that seemed to me to best represent the impact of rock ‘n’ roll on my world; it was not intended to represent the entirety of the music and its diverse and important creators but to reflect the high points of my career and the interviews that “I felt it demonstrated the breadth and expertise of that profession. It does not reflect my appreciation and admiration for the countless totem artists who are changing the world and whose music and ideas I respect and will celebrate and promote for the rest of my life. I fully understand the inflammatory nature of poorly chosen words and I deeply apologize and accept the consequences.”

CNN has reached out to Little, Brown and Company for comment.

Weiner founded Rolling Stone with music critic Ralph J. Gleason in 1967 and put the legendary rock magazine up for sale in 2017. entered Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual in 2004, a Founding partner From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

“The Masters” is scheduled to be released on September 26.