The new owners of Soul Train, from left to right, Anthony Maddox, Peter Griffin, and Kenard Gibbs
Several artists pulled out of the Soul Train Music Awards and the word buzzing amongst the execs was that there was a deliberate attempt to sabatoge the show. Basically the Soul Train brand is owned by some newcomers including Kenard Gibbs who used to run Vibe Magazine and old rambling Don Cornelius is an unhappy camper and made some noise. Basically LA Reid and Babayface backed out of an appearance even though they were honoring LaFace records. Usher also backed out. There were others.
Soul Train was owned by Don Cornelius for years. He created it; it was his baby. Later in his life he made some poor choices and had lots of debt and began leveraging portions of ownership. Eventually this caused him to have to sell it all together. As an example, all of the Michael Jackson footage from Soul Train, he no longer owns, so when MJ died, the new owners benefited whenever people needed to use MJ soul train footage. Don was pissed. But he is not the owner anymore. So the real problem is the new owners are running up against some folks in the industry who felt they should be able to exert some influence into some things (The Soul Train Brand) that they have not been allowed to exert that influence upon. It has trickled down to folks taking sides. Like I said, politics pure and simple. I could say more. I'll leave it there. I hope this all blows over in a year or two.
Soul Train was owned by Don Cornelius for years. He created it; it was his baby. Later in his life he made some poor choices and had lots of debt and began leveraging portions of ownership. Eventually this caused him to have to sell it all together. As an example, all of the Michael Jackson footage from Soul Train, he no longer owns, so when MJ died, the new owners benefited whenever people needed to use MJ soul train footage. Don was pissed. But he is not the owner anymore. So the real problem is the new owners are running up against some folks in the industry who felt they should be able to exert some influence into some things (The Soul Train Brand) that they have not been allowed to exert that influence upon. It has trickled down to folks taking sides. Like I said, politics pure and simple. I could say more. I'll leave it there. I hope this all blows over in a year or two.
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