Bob Dylan has responded to “ridiculous” claims that he once ordered backup dancers not to look him in the eye. Over on X (formerly Twitter), Dylan shared a post about seeing “Nick Cave in Paris recently at the Accor Arena.”
“I was really struck by that song Joy where he sings ‘We’ve all had too much sorrow, now it the time for joy.’ I was thinking to myself, yeah that’s about right,” Dylan added. This sparked a reply from a woman named Cheryl Henry who claimed that she worked as a backup dancer for Bob Dylan more than 30 years ago and that she and the other dancers were ordered not to make eye contact with the singer.
“My Joy was taken away after rehearsing as one of the Backup dancers for your set on the Grammys in NYC 1991,” Henry wrote. “We all had to walk single file to exit thru the backstage area, past the dressing rooms where you were standing wearing a hooded black robe, kinda like the boxers used to wear & you said to me as I passed you ‘Now don’t you go cutting that long red hair of yours before tomorrow night.”
“By the time I reached the exit door at Radio City, I had been told not to return,” she continued, then claiming, “Nadine (who was running things) had told us all before NOT to make eye contact with you! I guess I snuck a peek as I passed you! I had a letter with me also from an old friend of yours Katherine Perry who knew you in your West Village days.”
Finally, Henry wrote, “It wasn’t meant to be Gemini Man….”, referring to Dylan’s zodiac sign.
The next day, Dylan responded to Henry’s comment and refuted the claims. “Saw your reply. Just want you to know I’ve never told anybody not to make eye contact with me,” Dylan wrote. “That is just ridiculous. And the next time you see me please look straight into my eyes.”
Henry replied once more, telling Dylan she “knew it wasn’t coming from you,” and then adding that she will “look forward” to seeing him again someday. Seems like this internet beef was squashed before it really began.
The post Did Bob Dylan Really Tell Backup Dancers Not to Look Him in the Eye? appeared first on VICE.
The post Did Bob Dylan Really Tell Backup Dancers Not to Look Him in the Eye? appeared first on VICE.
