Rolling Stone’s Jann Wenner Has Falling Out With Biographer

Wenner is not on speaking terms with writer after he says author produced 'deeply flawed' manuscript.

October 20, 2017 9:18 am
Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan is the story of of Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone Magazine.
Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine by Joe Hagan is the story of of Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone Magazine. (Bettmann/Contributor)

It’s never a good thing when the guy you’ve written about doesn’t want to talk to you anymore. That’s what’s going on between Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner and his biographer, Joe Hagan, reports the New York Times.

Hagan started working on the mammoth project at Wenner’s behest back in 2013, and Alfred A. Knopf is soon to publish the 547-page biography, Sticky Fingers, on Oct. 24.

Except that Wenner is refusing to appear at book events and parties with Hagan promoting the book. The reason? He apparently doesn’t like it.

Said Wenner of his sour opinion of the tome: “I gave Joe time and access in the hope he would write a nuanced portrait about my life and the culture Rolling Stone chronicled. Rock and roll set me and my generation free musically, socially and politically. My hope was that this book would provide a record for future generations of that extraordinary time. Instead, he produced something deeply flawed and tawdry, rather than substantial.”

For his part, Hagan said of what’s between the book’s two covers: “It was all on the table—there’s nothing he didn’t know. He’s used to having control, and that’s a difficult thing.”

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