"Wow, a raging racist and misogynist" - Martina Navratilova reacts to Rolling Stone founder's removal from Rock & Roll Hall of Fame board
Martina Navratilova has shared her opinion on the removal of Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone Magazine and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, from the hall’s board of directors due to his controversial remarks on Black and female musicians.
The controversial comments surfaced during Wenner's promotion of his book 'The Masters', which contains interviews with Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, and U2’s Bono.
During an interview with The New York Times, Wenner was questioned about the absence of Black or female musicians among the featured artists, all of whom are white males.
In response, Wenner discussed his selection process and stated that no female artists were "articulate enough on this intellectual level."
"The selection was not a deliberate selection. It was kind of intuitive over the years; it just fell together that way. The people had to meet a couple criteria, but it was just kind of my personal interest and love of them. Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level," he said.
"It’s not that they’re not creative geniuses. It’s not that they’re inarticulate, although, go have a deep conversation with Grace Slick or Janis Joplin. Please, be my guest. You know, Joni 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. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock," he added.
He employed the same reasoning to justify his decision to exclude Black artists.
"Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? 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," he said.
On Saturday, September 16, a day after Wenner's comments were published, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced his removal from the board of directors.
"Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation," the hall said, as reported by HuffPost.
Upon coming across the news on social media, Martina Navratilova expressed her disapproval of Wenner's comments, describing him as a "raging racist and misogynist."
"Wow- a raging racist and misogynist -add a homophobe and you've got a trifecta...," she tweeted.
Martina Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles
Over the course of her illustrious career, Martina Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. She won her maiden Major title after defeating Chris Evert in the 1978 Wimbledon Championships final.
The former World No. 1 won nine Wimbledon titles, which is more than any player in history. Additionally, she won the US Open on four occasions, the Australian Open titles thrice and the French Open twice.
The Czech-American also forged one of the greatest sporting rivalries of all time with Chris Evert. Although Evert won 16 out of their first 20 encounters, Martina Navratilova ultimately claimed a 43-37 advantage in their head-to-head record.