Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner said Women and Black artists aren’t ‘articulate enough’

1 year ago
16

Jann Wenner, a co-founder of #RollingStone magazine, recently said that Black and women musicians didn’t “articulate” rock music philosophy well enough to be included in his new book, his words weren’t just a passing comment.

To music critics and experts, Wenner’s statements to The New York Times magazine while promoting his book “The Masters” highlight long-standing racial inequities in the music business. Black musicians have long received the short end of the stick in the industry, in everything from receiving lackluster contracts and struggling for radio play to being shut out of prestigious accolades.

“He’s shown what many industry leaders still think about Black and female musicians, and his choice of words are an affront to the creativity and genius exhibited by so many artists,” Willie “Prophet” Stiggers and Caron Veazey, co-founders of the Black Music Action Coalition, said of Wenner in a statement to NBC News.

“The Masters” is a collection of Wenner’s interviews with Bono, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Jerry Garcia and Pete Townshend over the course of his lengthy career at the magazine. A new interview with Bruce Springsteen was also included.

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