“You know, just for the sake of public relations,” he added, “maybe I should have found a black artist and a female artist to include here who wasn’t up to the same historical standard, just to deflect this kind of criticism turn. . What I understand. I had the opportunity to do that. Maybe I’m old fashioned and I don’t care [expletive] or whatever.”
Those comments immediately sparked fire on social media. Just as quickly, alarmed phone calls and emails began circulating among the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation’s 31 board members, including music and media executives, financial industry players, and star artists like Pharrell Williams and LL Cool J. The foundation , founded in 1983, chooses the artists to be inducted and is affiliated with the museum in Cleveland.)
“Your words risk undermining the institution you helped build by promoting a narrative that is not only narrow-minded, but exclusionary,” Troy Carter, a former Spotify executive and adviser to the Prince Estate, said in a statement. email to Wenner. members which was obtained by The Times.
Interviews with four people with direct knowledge of the board’s vote, who spoke anonymously because the panel’s deliberations are confidential, paint a picture of urgency and anger within the institution.
While board members felt personally shocked by Wenner’s comments, they also worried about the impact on the venue itself and its vital relationships with artists – some of whom had already begun to complain. One message came from Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s songwriting partner, who will receive this year’s award for musical excellence at the ceremony on November 3 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Heather Taupin, his wife and manager, sent an email to venue officials calling Wenner’s comments “a slap in the face” to the new candidates and adding: “We strongly believe he must resign immediately.”
Although the venue oversees the voting that selects the winners, delicate diplomacy often happens behind the scenes to ensure that performers will accept the honor and appear in the annual TV launch show. This year’s winners include Kate Bush, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Rage Against the Machine, the Spinners and George Michael, who died in 2016.
