Ted Nugent labels Jann Wenner comments “racist and misogynistic attacks”
Following Jann Wenner‘s controversial assertion that Black and female musicians lacked the necessary “intellectual” depth for inclusion in his forthcoming book, numerous artists have stepped forward to express their criticism of his comments. Ted Nugent is the most recent addition to the list of those who have condemned Wenner’s statements.
In a recent video message to fans, Nugent addressed Wenner’s comments, saying, “Our soul came from Black heroes who had more soul because they had to get out of the curse of slavery and celebrate freedom musically. [Wenner was removed] because of racist and misogynistic attacks that said that Black and female artists are not articulate enough to reference in his book about rock ‘n’ roll history, which is so clearly biased and so clearly racist and so clearly misogynistic. And those are the things that he has always accused me of.”
Wenner’s comments occurred in an interview with The New York Times after he was asked why every interviewee from his book, The Masters, was a white male. Wenner then claimed that black and female artists “just didn’t articulate at the level”. In the book, the Rolling Stone founder speaks to Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Pete Townshend.
Explaining his choice of interview subjects, Wenner said: “In so far as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level. Joni [Mitchell] was not a philosopher of rock ’n’ roll. She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test. Not by her work, not by other interviews she did.“
He added: “The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock… 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.”
Following the interview, Wenner was removed from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an initiative that he co-founded back in 1983. After the backlash, he issued an apology that read: “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 apologise wholeheartedly for those remarks.“
Wenner continued: “The Masters is a collection of interviews I’ve done over the years that seemed to me to best represent an idea of rock ‘n’ roll’s impact on my world; they were not meant to represent the whole of music and it’s diverse and important originators but to reflect the high points of my career and interviews I felt illustrated the breadth and experience in that career.“
Watch Nugent’s video message below.
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