Rock Hall 2017 class includes Pearl Jam, Tupac and Journey
Seattle rockers Pearl Jam, the late rapper Tupac Shakur and 1970s hitmaking band Journey were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra and Yes were also part of the 2017 class inducted.
USA TODAY
Joan Baez, long an outspoken advocate for civil rights, isn’t going to start holding her tongue now.
In an appearance on John Mulaney’s new Netflix talk show, the singer-songwriter took aim at the “incompetent billionaires” whom she accused of taking over the U.S. government.
“You said I could say anything I want out here,” Baez, 84, told Mulaney during the Wednesday night premiere of “Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney.” “We’re all here to be silly and have fun, and as long as we recognize the fact that our democracy is going up in flames … we’re being run by a bunch of really incompetent billionaires.”
While Baez did not name drop, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has taken an outsized role in President Donald Trump’s administration. Musk, who was not elected to public office, has been designated a special employee by Trump and has begun to slash large swaths of the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE. Multiple tech billionaires, including Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon head Jeff Bezos, were present at Trump’s inauguration, and Trump himself has been reported to have a net worth of $4.6 billion, according to Forbes.
Baez, whose anthems helped to score the 1960s civil rights movement, has long combined her music career with activism. From the Vietnam and Iraq Wars to the struggle for LGBTQ rights, the songstress has signed her name to several anti-violent causes.
Her role in the success of Bob Dylan, another folk hero, was recently dramatized in the Oscar-nominated biopic “A Complete Unknown.” Baez’s character was played by Monica Barbaro.
“At first, he was that protest voice also, and then he didn’t want to do that anymore,” Barbaro told USA TODAY of Baez’s insights on Dylan. “She was also in love with his potential.”
Baez’s seeming distaste for Musk resurfaced later in the show when she shared an anecdote about crashing a Tesla car shortly after purchasing it.
Tesla, one of Musk’s many business ventures, has taken a hit in sales in recent months, as his ties to Trump scare off some buyers. As a remedy, the president hosted a quasi-car show in front of the White House this week and agreed to buy one of the models.
“I hated that thing,” Baez said of the Tesla her assistant had encouraged her to buy. “But I thought I was supposed to like it. So I drove off in it. Within 45 minutes I had smashed it into an oak tree on my property. … I was thinking, ‘That’s a sign.’”
Mulaney’s show, a new venture for Netflix, sees the wildly popular comedian host other comics and actors for live interviews every Wednesday.
Baez was joined by Michael Keaton and Fred Armisen as the inaugural guests.
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