FT LAUDERDALE (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Live Nation's Mike Luba raised some eyebrows during a city commission hearing in Ft. Lauderdale when he told commissioners that: "We're doing everything we can to eliminate jazz from American culture, so no jazz!"
The comment, which was reported by the Sun-Sentinel, came during a hearing in which Luba was seeking the city councils' approval to bring a new music festival to Ft. Lauderdale. The discussion had turned to Live Nation's request not to allow any competing festivals to detract from Live Nation's event. Commissioner Christine Teel raised the jazz issue, asking "If someone was going to have an opera festival on the beach, if it was a number of jazz groups that came on the beach, is that a competitive festival that you would consider would be banned?"
To this Luba responded with his anti-jazz quip and although most people in the audience seemed to understand it was a joke and laughed, the comment earned some boos as well, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
Since then, Luba has reportedly received hundreds of emails in support of jazz. Luba has taken pains to note that the comment was entirely a joke. "[The comment was made] totally in the moment, to break the tension," he told the Sun-Sentinel. Luba went on to add that he loves jazz – "Our company does thousands of jazz shows a year," he told the Sun-Sentinel "and jazz is the foundation of everything we do." – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
