I don't try to make his case, but he would say, "That's what artists do: You fight battles; you're going to find record company presidents who don't like what you do and try to change you. You're going to find all kinds of [obstacles] and you've got to fight through that." Whether it's writing a song and not giving up, in his mind he was justified. He talked to Quincy Jones, he talked to Harry Belafonte. He thinks he did the right thing, and I think he did the right thing.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 06, 2018 18:11 UTC