One of the founders of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983 has been “removed” from the organizations board of directors after comments about black and female performers he made in an interview published Friday.
Jann Wenner, who also co-founded Rolling Stone magazine in 1967, made the comments in an interview with The New York Times about his new book, “The Masters,” a collection of interviews Wenner conducted with household names like Bono, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen.
Wenner was asked why none of the interviews included in “The Masters” were women or people of color, and his response has been widely criticized as both racist and sexist, according to a separate article in the Times.
“Just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level,” Wenner said of the women in rock and roll that he has known. He made a similar comment about black performers.
“Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right?” he told the Times. “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.”