Jimmy Iovine is a business titan, but the mogul is under fire for suggesting that women don’t know how to find music.
The Beats founder /Apple Music exec made the odd remarks on CBS This morning with Mary J. Blige right there. “Women find it very difficult at times — some women — to find music,” Iovine said.
Iovine seemed to try explaining an Apple Music commercial with Mary J. Blige, Kerry Washington and Taraji P. Henson, but the reference fell flat.
The commercial in question was directed by Ava DuVernay and it humorously explains curated playlists on Apple Music.
Iovine explained, “I just thought of a problem, you know? Girls are sitting around, you know, talking about boys. Or complaining about boys, you know, when they’re heartbroken or whatever. And they need music for that, right? So it’s hard to find the right music, you know. Not everybody has the right lists, or knows a DJ or something.”
Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, among many others, took Iovine to task for his comments.
I have never met Mr. Iovine, but I have been writing about music as a profession for many, many years, and one of my favorite things to do is to “find” music,” Shepherd said. “Before I started writing about music, I was capable of finding it as well. It certainly sounds like a conundrum, impossible I know, but it happens. If only Apple Music’s premise was not sexist at its very core, I might subscribe to it.”
Iovine has since apologized since he began trending on social media.