Time Warner Severs Ties With Rap Distributor

Time Warner Inc. said Wednesday it is selling its stake in a company that distributes records for some of rap’s biggest - and most explicit - stars.

The decision to bail out of Interscope Records follows a growing outcry at the leading entertainment company’s involvement in “gangsta rap,” known for violent, sexually explicit lyrics.

“This decision is not about any particular kind of music,” Michael Fuchs, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Music Group, said in a statement.

He said the move comes because the “joint venture no longer made sense for either party.”

Last month, Time Warner tried to review lyrics that may prove objectionable, a demand that Los Angeles-based Interscope refused.

Ted Field of Interscope said in the statement that, “From our respective vantage points, this was simply the right thing to do.”

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and former Education Secretary William J. Bennett have been among those pressuring Time Warner to stop distributing rap music.