The 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun' singer says Jann Wenner is 'so wrong' for saying that black and female musicians are not 'articulate' enough to be 'philosophers of rock.'
- Sep 23, 2023
AceShowbiz - Cyndi Lauper has labelled Jann Wenner as "wrong" and "a little senile" amid his bigotry row. The "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" singer, 70, called out the Rolling Stone magazine co-founder, 77, for refusing to include women and people of colour in his book "The Masters", a collection of interviews he has conducted over the years with rockers including Sir Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Bono.
"I don't know why he would think that, when African-American people invented rock and roll. I'm sorry - Elvis learned from a black man. So I really, really think it's so wrong. I always thought it was wrong," Cyndi, renowned as a women's rights and LGBTQ+ community activist, told Page Six after Jann said he didn't consider the groups "philosophers of rock."
When asked about his decision to exclude the two groups of musicians, Jann told the New York Times last week none were "as articulate enough on this intellectual level" and did not see them as "philosophers of rock."
He said, "You know, 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. Which, I get it. I had a chance to do that. Maybe I'm old-fashioned."
Following his comments, Jann was ousted from the Board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during an emergency meeting convened hours after the article was published.
The motion reportedly passed with only two dissenting votes - one from Jann and another from Jon Landau, Bruce Springsteen's longtime manager and a former Rolling Stone critic.
He later issued an apology through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company, which said, "I totally understand the inflammatory nature of badly chosen words and deeply apologise and accept the consequences."
