Bob Dylan slammed as ‘arrogant’ for Nobel silence
Bob Dylan has been slammed as "impolite and arrogant" for refusing to comment on his Nobel Prize win.
Academy member Per Wastberg is frustrated with the ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ hitmaker because he’s failed to speak publicly about being named the winner of the award for Literature and reportedly hasn’t even returned numerous calls from the Nobel committee.
Per Wastberg told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter: "One can say that it is impolite and arrogant… He is who he is."
He added: "We were aware that he can be difficult and that he does not like appearances when he stands alone on the stage".
Last week a notice on the 75-year-old star’s website featured the text "WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE" in a piece promoting a book of his lyrics however it was later removed.
And Dylan’s decision to not acknowledge the accolade has led some to believe he will bail on the prize-giving ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December.
However Swedish Academy permanent secretary Sara Danius – who announced the news Dylan was going to be the first singer/songwriter to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 13 – said she was "not at all worried".
She told Swedish state radio SR: "I think he will show up.
"If he doesn’t want to come, he won’t come. It will be a big party in any case and the honour belongs to him."
President Barack Obama took the time to congratulate Dylan on Twitter and said the legendary folk rock singer was his one of his "favorite poets".
He penned: "Congratulations to one of my favorite poets, Bob Dylan, on a well-deserved Nobel."
The ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ singer was chosen for the prestigious accolade "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", according to Sara Danius, permanent Secretary of the Nobel Foundation.
Dylan – who changed his real name from Robert Zimmerman to his stage name because he was inspired by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas – is also the first American to win the accolade since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.
