The boss of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame has hit back at Paul Stanley, describing the KISS frontman as a “borderline racist.”
CEO Joel Peresman had come under fire from Stanley over the handling of his band’s induction at this year’s ceremony. He and bandmate Gene Simmons wanted the current lineup to play at last month’s gala night while organizers only wanted the original members to perform. The argument ended in a stalemate, with the band not performing at the ceremony.
Stanley – who took a pot shot at judges from their own stage – this week reignited the argument by calling the Rock Hall “elitist” and claiming it lacked credibility.
Now Peresman has broken his silence, hailing Simmons’ acceptance speech, but slamming his bandmate. He tells Radio.com, “It was a lovely speech; it was actually kind of classy – as opposed to Paul’s. He’s been almost borderline racist. Not in that speech, but in other interviews talking about how hip-hop artists shouldn’t be inducted because they don’t play instruments. It’s like, ‘what are you, kidding?’
And he talks about the nominating committee, and how those guys don’t buy records. Those guys buy records. They’re fucking fans. Those guys are writers and critics and musicians. Those are the people who buy records and got into the business because they love music.”
But Peresman may have gotten his facts wrong. In a recent interview it was Simmons, not Stanley, who slated hip-hop. The bassist said in March: “A few people decide what’s in and what’s not and the masses just scratch their heads. You’ve got Grandmaster Flash in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Run DMC in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? You’re killing me! That doesn’t mean those aren’t good artists. But they don’t play guitar. They sample and they talk – not even sing.”
Stanley made his own race-hate allegations when he referred to former bandmates Ace Frehly and Peter Criss as people who resented being “unfairly manipulated by money-grubbing Jews.” In March he said he stood by his allegations.
At the ceremony in Brooklyn on April 10, KISS were inducted alongside Nirvana, Peter Gabriel, The E Street Band and others.
source: metalhammer.teamrock.com
85 Responses
What in the blue hell is a “borderline racist?” Seriously? You either are or you aren’t. These illogical moronic ruining America and all it stands for liberals are pure 100% evil. They must be stopped! Borderline racist lmao! What, you are only racist against some blacks, Asians, etc but not all of them? You listen to Madonna’s “borderline” while stating rap doesn’t belong in the extremely liberal biased country club known as the so called RRHOF? When will it end???
Offensive.
Suck it up buttercup & grow a pair!
Now there’s an educated retort.
You see Merv, being educated is kinda like being Anti Liberal. You either are or you aren’t.
Recently rewatched the TMS episode listing out many of the bands yet to make it into the RRHOF from Deep Purple on. Hip-hop/ rap is not rock whether you like it or not, just as jazz or classical symphony are not. They don’t belong in the RRHOF either. The fact is they are more than a decade behind in inducting ROCK BANDS into the ROCK AND ROLL hall of fame. Joe Peresman can spew whatever crap he wants, but until they place ROCK groups into the ROCK hall of fame, anything he says is as worthless as this statement was.
The Rock Hall excludes entire genres of music, but complaining about hip-hop is racist? Paul Stanley also said Laura Nyro shouldn’t have been inducted as a performer, and he’s a big fan of hers, but they have a non-performer category. Why not expand the non-performer category and induct 10 performers a year?
If Wenner wanted to call it the Rolling Stone Hall of Fame, that would have been fine, but he didn’t. He wanted a committee so the record companies wouldn’t buy votes, so it’s by committee. They should be consistent with their rules, which Eddie has called them out on many times on. 10 artists, 2 public opinion votes, 10 non-performers, and everyone has a fun night.
How about a hip hop hall of fame
problem solved…
this is what I do
I’m not the biggest Stanley fan but Pressman’s comments are a little unfair. There have been many many Rock bands, music critics, and regular fans that take their name literally “the rock n roll hall of fame”. There is no racism whatsoever to that. They simply see the other artists as not performing that type of music (rap, pop, r and b). I totally agree with that thinking and music in general can’t be caught under one big heading, “the rock n roll hall of fame”. If this were the case KISS would have just been inducted into the Music Hall of Fame. I really believe that’s the only distinction Stanley is making. If there was a pop hall of fame I wouldn’t think KISS would belong in it. There are categories in life people and there are things that make everyone different. Its ok and doesn’t have to be automatically racist. I really think it’s that simple and Stanley’s comments or Gene’s comments come from that point of view and not a racist one. I agree with them and I’m not racist…