Top 5 Wildest Quotes From Quincy Jones’ Vulture Interview

Quincy Jones has been making headlines a lot these days. Unfortunately (or not, depending on your point of view), those headlines are for his interview quotes rather than any new musical endeavours. The legendary producer/musician was interviewed by GQ over a week ago in which he says he has 22 girlfriends from different countries around the world; talks about him almost being set up with Marilyn Monroe by Frank Sinatra; calls Truman Capote a racist; expresses his wish for Donald Glover to play him in a biopic, and describes his hatred of Taylor Swift’s music. Now, the almost-85-year-old is the subject of another controversial interview, this time with Vulture. The interview was published on Vulture’s website Wednesday morning, and he’s got some more brazen opinions to share. Here are our picks for the five craziest statements Jones made in the interview.

 

5. He says there are “secrets” with Hillary Clinton.

Though Hillary is a friend of Jones’, her reputation as a politician with her fair share of baggage precedes her. Jones dished some dirt – albeit the most minimal amount – about the former Secretary of State, saying that public dislike of the Clintons is because of there being “a side of her – when you keep secrets, they backfire.” When interviewer David Marchese asked for more details, Jones said he shouldn’t be talking about it. Other subjects in the interview he said he shouldn’t be discussing publicly? The Bill Cosby allegations, and who he thought killed JFK. (More on that later.)

 

4. He used to date Ivanka Trump.

No, not Donald’s first wife Ivana – his daughter. Jones says he dated her 12 years ago while she was 24 and he 72, after being told by Tommy Hilfiger that she wanted to have dinner with him. Jones complimented Ivanka’s physical appearance while taking shots at POTUS 45, saying she’s a “fine motherf––er” and that “she had the most beautiful legs I ever saw in my life. Wrong father though.” He’d call the President a “f––ing idiot” and a “crazy motherf––er” elsewhere in the interview.

 

3. Marlon Brando slept with several major male celebs.

While his reputation is primarily being one of the greatest actors the world has ever seen, Marlon Brando’s, ahem, sexual interests were another topic Jones would touch on in the interview. Jones was quoted as saying that the legendary actor had slept with Marvin Gaye, James Baldwin and Richard Pryor – the latter encounter being confirmed by Pryor’s widow after the interview was published – and that Brando would “f–– anything,” including a mailbox. Thanks, Quincy, for that lovely and totally not gross and unnecessary mental image.

 

2. Michael Jackson stole many of his biggest songs.

The King of Pop borrowing elements of other songs for some of his hits isn’t necessarily news – Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates was once quoted as saying Jackson admitted to him that he’d stolen the bassline from the duo’s hit “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” for “Billie Jean” – but Jones would go even further in saying that MJ had stolen Donna Summer’s “State of Independence” for that same song. “The notes don’t lie, man. He was as Machiavellian as they come,” he said. Soon after, Jones would discuss how Jackson was “greedy” with not giving studio musicians royalties for contributions they made to his tunes, as well as criticizing his reasoning for getting plastic surgery.

 

1. The Beatles sucked at being musicians.

Of all the hot takes Jones offers up throughout the interview, this one’s got arguably the highest Scoville rating. When asked what his first impressions of the Beatles were (he’d mentioned that he met Paul McCartney when Macca was 21), Jones said he thought “they were the worst musicians in the world. They were no-playing motherf––ers. Paul was the worst bass player I ever heard. And Ringo [Starr]? Don’t even talk about it,” before eventually calling Starr a “great guy”. A guy who isn’t a bad musician in Jones’ eyes, however, is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who he says “sings and plays just like Hendrix”. Cue the “The More You Know” music.

BONUS ENTRY: He thinks he knows who killed JFK.

Although the perpetrator of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy is confirmed after multiple investigations to be Lee Harvey Oswald, Jones says otherwise. When asked if there was something he wishes he didn’t know, Jones answered “who killed Kennedy,” claiming that JFK was in fact killed by notorious Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana. “The connection was there between Sinatra and the Mafia and Kennedy,” he said. “Joe Kennedy — he was a bad man — he came to Frank to have him talk to Giancana about getting votes.”