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Quincy Jones apologises for “word vomit”

By | Published on Friday 23 February 2018

Michael Jackson

Quincy Jones has apologised for derogatory comments he made about various people in recent interviews and said he won’t do it again. Which I think we can safely say is disappointing for everyone. He wasn’t drunk when he was dissing all those pop stars, though, just so you know.

In a lengthy statement on Twitter, Jones said that his daughters had launched a “surprise family intervention because of some silly things I’ve said in two recent interviews”.

“I am an imperfect human and I’m not afraid to say it”, he went on. “And I’m sorry and I’m not afraid to say it”.

Among the recent comments made by Jones were that Taylor Swift is a bad songwriter because she’s lazy, Elvis “couldn’t sing”, The Beatles were “the worst musicians in the world”, and that Michael Jackson “stole a lot of songs”.

That latter comment, about the legendary producer’s most famous collaborator, was not well-received by the Jackson family. Commenting on Jones’s claims that Michael Jackson lifted parts of ‘Billie Jean’ from Donna Summer’s ‘State Of Independence’, the late pop star’s father Joe Jackson said: “He says my son stole it, but he was the producer on both [tracks], so if anybody is [in the] wrong it would be Quincy”.

Continuing his apology, Jones said: “When you’ve been fortunate enough to have lived such a long and crazy life (and you’ve recently stopped drinking – three years ago!), certain details about specific events (which do NOT paint the full picture of my intentions or experiences) come flooding back all at once”.

These recollections then came out as “word vomit”, he said. Seemingly unfiltered, as interview questions reminded him of events in his life.

“Bad-mouthing is inexcusable”, he continued. “One of the hardest things about this situation is that this bad-mouthing has contradicted the very real messages I tried to relay about racism, inequality, homophobia, poverty… you name it”.

He concluded that he is “sorry to anyone whom my words offended, and I’m especially sorry to my friends who are still with me and those who aren’t”.

Worried that Quincy Jones interviews from here on in might be a bit boring, I just went back and checked if he can be entertaining and positive at the same time. Turns out he can. Asked by Vulture what his greatest musical innovation has been, he replied: “Everything I’ve done”.



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