David Bowie calls out MTV for snubbing black artists in resurfaced 1983 interview
AS FANS and admirers of David Bowie share the many highlights of his life and career following his death on Sunday, a snippet of an interview from 1983 is proving particularly popular.
David Bowie passed away on Sunday night
In the MTV sit-down, the late icon calls out the music station for its noticeable lack of airtime for black artists.
"[MTV] is a solid enterprise and it's got a lot going for it," he can be seen telling interviewer Mark Goodman.
"I'm just floored there's so few black artists featured on it, why is that?"
A longer transcript from the discussion was tweeted by ITV news anchor Charlene White and has since gone viral.
The interview aired in 1982
Is it not possible it should be a conviction of the station to be fair?
It shows Bowie remarking: "There seem to be a lot of black artists making very good videos that I'm surprised aren't being used on MTV."
Goodman retaliates: "We have to try and do what we think not only New York and Los Angeles will appreciate, but also Poughkeepsie or the Midwest. Pick some town in the Midwest which would be scared to death by… a string of other black faces, or black music.
"We have to play music we think an entire country is going to like, and certainly we're a rock and roll station."
Bowie replied: "Don't you think it's a frightening predicament to be in?"
"Yeah, but no less so here than in radio," the host said.
The interview has been widely shared today
He was a star of the screen and the airwaves
Challenging him, Bowie continued: "Don't say, 'Well, it's not me, it's them'. Is it not possible it should be a conviction of the station and of the radio station to be fair… to make the media more integrated?"
Bowie's new album Blackstar is on course to debut at Number One on Friday, with yesterday's midweek sales flash indicating it was leading the race even before news of his passing was announced.
He had been secretly fighting liver cancer for 18 months, with an official statement from his management confirming that he "died peacefully... surrounded by his family."