Celine Dion fans gathered outside the offices of Rolling Stone on Friday afternoon to protest the superstar singer’s exclusion from our latest list of the 200 Greatest Female Singers of All Time.
The small but vocal cadre of Dion supporters chanted and shouted, holding signs that read ‘How can you forget Celine?’, ‘The power of Celine’, ‘Justice for Celine’, ‘Celine is no longer alone’ and ‘ I drove all night to get here!” Our personal favorite, however, was definitely “Rolling Stone Is Stoned,” which was also a popular chant between songs.
The protest appears to have been organized by a group of Dion fans calling themselves the Red Heads, and videos of them preparing posters appear on the Instagram fan account @celinedionaddicts_official. The group’s founder, Line Basbous, was in attendance and said most of the group traveled from Canada to speak “on behalf of Celine.”
“Obviously you made a huge mistake by forgetting her name on the big list you released last week,” Basbous told Rolling Stone’s Ilana Woldenberg. “We wanted to make sure you understand that you missed out on the best singer in the world.”
“She should be the first name on your list,” she added.
Also featured in those videos was French-Canadian broadcaster Julie Snyder, who also appeared outside our offices, holding a mic for her own TV show and attempting to film the interview on RS Reporter. (With that in mind, it wasn’t entirely clear to what extent this was an organized stunt.)
“She’s won Oscars, Grammy and American Music Awards,” Snyder said, noting some of Dion’s famous performances, like the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and the Tribute to Heroes after 9/11. “You forgot her! You guys are stoned, it’s OK!”
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Woldenberg also asked Snyder about the decision to hold this protest on January 6th. (Coincidentally, there was another protest against the RS offices at the New York Public Library, prompting Attorney General Merrick Garland to indict those involved in the January 6 riot).
“Yes, it’s very important, the other protest, we believe in the other protest,” Snyder said. “But we also think that we can protest with our heart and our song and that song can help people get better … But you work for the music industry, even if today is a sad day for you.”
Another protester entered the building and asked to speak to RS Editor-in-Chief Noah Shachtman to give him a DVD of Celine’s greatest moments.
Snyder was open about what the protesters were hoping for: “We hope that Rolling Stone will admit that they made a mistake.”
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The personal protest came after a week of grumbling by Dion Stans after the list was released on January 1. In defense of this release, however, we’re nothing if not consistent: Dion didn’t appear on our original list of the 2018 100 Greatest Singers — but eponymous sixties singer Dion did (and he made it the second time around, at number 154).