Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Quincy Jones Apologizes For Best Interview Of All Time — But Doesn’t Take Anything Back

It’s a sad day when an 85-year-old celebrity is forced by the handiwork of the Internet masses and his six daughters to apologize for saying that he once dated Ivanka Trump.

And yet here we are.

Quincy Jones issued a detailed and specific apology Thursday afternoon for the, let us say, highly unique interview he gave to Vulture last week in which he called the Beatles the worst musicians in the world. He also called Michael Jackson a thief, Donald Trump limited mentally, and said Oprah shouldn’t run for president because she hasn’t been the CEO of a company even though she … is the CEO of a company.

Long story short, it was a wonderfully entertaining interview and likely the highlight of that lucky journalist’s career. And now, Quincy Jones is apologizing for everything — although, notably, he doesn’t really take anything back.

“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 experience more intentions) come flooding back all at once, and even at 85, it’s apparent that “word vomit” and badmouthing is inexcusable,” the legend wrote.

Jones didn’t name names in his apology, although he did say he had reached out privately to those he had hurt.

Frankly, the only thing Jones is guilty of is talking like an 85-year-old man who has lived in epic life. If that’s a crime, who among our own beloved grandparents is innocent?

Nobody. That’s who.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.