Jan Wenner, the cofounder of Rolling Stone magazine,
has been removed from the board of directors of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
which he also cofounded after comments he made about black
and female artists were widely criticized as racist and sexist.
In a terse statement, the Cleveland based Hall of Fame
offered no reason for his removal.
Wenner's comments came in an interview with The New York
Times published Friday about his upcoming book titled The Masters,
which consists of seven. Interviews the 77 year old did
over his career with musicians including Mick Jagger and Bob
Dylan.
In the interview, Wenner was pressed on why all seven
interviews in the book were with white men.
He replied by saying that black and female musicians were
not quote as articulate as those he chose to profile.
Adding quote 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 the same historical standard.
Just to avert this kind of criticism,
he later apologized for the remarks.
Winner could not be immediately reached for comment on his
removal.