Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid says Jann Wenner‘s comments about Black and female artists don’t come as a total shock to him — and he’s calling on some white rock legends to speak out, but only if they keep it real.
Vernon joined us Monday on “TMZ Live,” telling us why the Rolling Stone co-founder calling some iconic Black and female artists inarticulate was “staggering, but not surprising at all.”
Keep in mind, Wenner was referring to people like Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Grace Slick.
If anything, Vernon’s glad Wenner put, in his opinion, his true self out there for all to see.
Maybe the more shocking part is that Vernon says thoughts and feelings like Wenner’s are not new to the music industry — it’s just rare for anyone to say it out loud.
TMZ broke the story … Wenner was kicked out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors after sharing his controversial thoughts in an interview with the NYT — discussing his upcoming book, “The Masters,” which highlights his interviews with 7 white, male artists.
In Vernon’s opinion, folks in the book like Bruce Springsteen and Bono should speak out about Wenner’s comments, on one condition — that it comes from the heart, rather than issuing performative statements for PR purposes.
BTW, Wenner was asked in the interview why he left out so many other “masters” of rock and roll who aren’t white men … and he claimed Black performers aren’t in his “zeitgeist,” and said artists like Janis Joplin and Marvin Gaye just aren’t articulate enough.
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