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Company officials argue that it is futile to try to stamp out rap by clamping down on a single company. When Ice-T withdrew his Cop Killer song after the 1992 controversy and left Warner Records, he was instantly picked up by another label. Warner record officials note that other major record companies -- who are, after all, Time Warner competitors -- have pointedly failed to come to Time Warner's defense over the issue of rap. "Obviously," says one senior Warner record executive, "if just Time Warner falls and commits hara-kiri, that will be great for people who hate the company. But it won't do anything to change what kids are exposed to. It will just shift profits from one company to another." Critics respond that this has nothing to do with what may or may not be Time Warner's corporate responsibility for what it purveys.
After the Time Warner shareholders' meeting last month, Tucker and Bennett aired their grievances directly in a testy meeting with company executives, among them Levin and Fuchs. It started badly: when company officials refused Tucker's request that they read aloud the lyrics of Big Man with a Gun, a song by the alternative-rock group Nine Inch Nails (sample: "Maybe I'll put a hole in your head/ You know, just for the f---- of it"), Tucker angrily walked out of the meeting for a time. Bennett's direct-as-a-bullet charges ("Are you folks morally disabled?") were met by philosophizing and historical perspective ("Elvis was more controversial in his day than some rap lyrics are today") that Bennett took to be patronizing. When Bennett responded to one of Levin's comments by exclaiming, "Baloney!" Levin stalked out of the room.
"I was impressed with the lack of candor," said Bennett. "It was extremely pompous. Here were these guys in $4,000 suits making us feel like we were lucky to be getting the time of day." Company officials, on the other hand, assert that while Tucker was reasonable and focused on solutions, Bennett seemed intent on confrontation and publicity. "He came in with no information and no credentials to discuss any of this intelligently," says Fuchs. "I guess he thought he was the self-appointed marshal riding in on a white horse to be the arbiter of morals."
The Dole attack was in some ways even more brutal -- and potentially more dangerous. Unlike Bennett, Dole is a powerful politician, the majority leader of the Senate; at a time when Congress is considering communications legislation that could drastically affect Time Warner's cable businesses, Levin & Co. could be forgiven for taking his speech as a direct threat of legislative retribution. Warner Music officials privately worry that Washington politics could dictate the corporation's response.
Those who know Levin, however, consider that unlikely to be the decisive factor. More probably, it will be mounting pressure from-and increasing attention to-what appears to be a very real clamor on behalf of common sense and public sensibilities. "It's a real moment for Time Warner to decide what it is," says a senior Warner Music executive. The likeliest outcome at the moment, though, is that his division will not be entirely pleased by the answer.
--REPORTED BY JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM AND MICHAEL DUFFY/WASHINGTON, ADAM COHEN AND BARBARA RUDOLPH/NEW YORK AND JEFFREY RESSNER/ LOS ANGELES