‘Rolling Stone’ Founder Jann Wenner Says Black and Female Musicians Not ‘Articulate’ Enough for New Book

Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone as well as co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has a new book coming out Sept. 26 containing interviews with seven legendary rock 'n' roll artists from his time at the magazine — every one of them white men.

When asked in an interview with The New York Times posted Friday as to why The Masters does not contain any thoughts from women or artists of color, Wenner replied that it was not a “deliberate selection" and that "the people had to meet a couple criteria."

He clarified that he found female artists to be not "articulate enough on this intellectual level" to be included in the book, and that Black artists also failed at being "articulate at that level."

In the actual introduction of The Masters, Wenner additionally notes women and artists of color are not in his zeitgeist.

Pressed further in the interview as to how he could make such judgements without giving these artists a chance, Wenner stated, "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."

"I had a chance to do that. Maybe I’m old-fashioned and I don’t give a [expletive] or whatever."

The Masters contains interviews with U2's frontman Bono, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Bruce Springsteen, and the late John Lennon and Jerry Garcia.

Wenner's comments have already drawn ire. New York Times music editor Ben Sisario tweeted Saturday afternoon that Wenner had been dropped from the board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, one day after the publication published the interview.

His scheduled upcoming appearance at New Jersey's Montclair Literary Festival has also been canceled.