Rolling Stone co-founder Jann Wenner faraway from Rock Corridor management after controversial feedback

NEW YORK – Jann Wenner, who co-founded Rolling Stone journal and likewise was a co-founder of the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame, has been faraway from the corridor’s board of administrators after making feedback that had been seen as disparaging towards Black and feminine musicians.

“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the corridor mentioned Saturday, a day after Wenner’s feedback had been revealed in a New York Occasions interview.

A consultant for Wenner, 77, didn’t instantly reply for a remark.

Wenner created a firestorm doing publicity for his new e book “The Masters,” which options interviews with musicians Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all white and male.

Requested why he did not interview ladies or Black musicians, Wenner responded: “It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni (Mitchell) was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test,” he informed the Occasions.

“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,” Wenner said.

Wenner co-founded Rolling Stone in 1967 and served as its editor or editorial director until 2019. He also co-founded the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which was launched in 1987.

Within the interview, Wenner appeared to acknowledge he would face a backlash. “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.”

Last year, Rolling Stone magazine published its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and ranked Gaye’s “What’s Going On” No. 1, “Blue” by Mitchell at No. 3, Marvel’s “Songs in the Key of Life” at No. 4, “Purple Rain” by Prince and the Revolution at No. 8 and Ms. Lauryn Hill’s “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” at No. 10.

Rolling Stone’s area of interest in magazines was an outgrowth of Wenner’s outsized pursuits, a mix of authoritative music and cultural protection with robust investigative reporting.

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This story has been up to date to appropriate that Wenner was a co-founder of Rolling Stone journal and never the founder.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits