Rolling Stone Co-Founder, Jann Wenner, Removed From Rock Hall Board of Directors After Saying Black Female Musicians Don’t “Articulate At The Level” As White Male Musicians

Rolling Stone co-founder, Jann Wenner, removed from his seat on the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.

This announcement came after an interview with The New York Times, during which he faced backlash for his remarks regarding Black and female musicians. While promoting his book, “The Masters,” which includes interviews with influential artists that aren’t female or non-white, Wenner says that Black and female musicians “didn’t articulate at the level” as the white male musicians.

“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.” a rep for Rock Hall said.

During the interview, Wenner was questioned about the absence of artists of color or female artists in his book.

“It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. 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,” Wenner said. “She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock. 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.”

Nevertheless, Wenner apologized for his statement.

“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 & roll’s impact on my world.