ABC RadioBack in December, when Steve Miller got the news that he was being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he said he was happy, but criticized the Hall’s induction process, which he said was being controlled by a “very elitist, small committee.” Friday night, as he entered the Hall, he stepped up his criticism of the institution, angrily telling reporters backstage that his experience that evening was “so unpleasant,” and snapped at a publicist who attempted to cut his rant short.
In his speech onstage, Miller mentioned that he’d like to see the induction process made more transparent, and more women being ushered into the Hall. But backstage, when asked by ABC Radio to elaborate on what he’d like to see changed about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he said, “Everything.” He wasn’t joking, either.
“The whole process needs to be changed; from the top to the bottom. Doesn’t need to be this hard, there’s nothing fancy going on out there that requires all of this stuff,” he continued. “They need to get their legal work straight, they need to respect the artists they say they’re honoring, which they don’t — I don’t have any of my paper work…signed. I have no licensing agreement with these people, they’re trying to steal my footage, they’re tying to make me indemnify them.”
He then expressed his displeasure with the Hall’s rules about how many tickets he could have for the ceremony.
“When they told me I was inducted, they told me I could have two tickets, one for your wife and one for yourself. Want another one? It’s $10,000 dollars. Sorry, that’s the way it goes,'” he snorted. “I said, ‘I’m playing here, what about my band. What about their wives?’”
He added, “They make this so unpleasant.”
The female publicist who was in charge of the backstage press room then attempted to usher Miller off the stage, suggesting he “wrap it up.” Indignant, Miller snapped at her, “No, we’re not going to wrap this one up. I’m going to wrap you up. You’re going to sit over there and learn something.”
Turning back to the reporters, he held his his index finger and thumb about an inch apart, and continued: “So here’s what you need to know… This is how close this whole show came to not happening because of the way the artists are actually being treated right now, so, I’ll wrap it up now.”
He then stormed off stage.
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