Alan Freed’s ashes no longer welcome at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

From Tom Taylor's NOW column this morning. The drama around Alan Freed and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...

It’s quite a local story for the Plain Dealer, which explains that the Hall’s not eliminating references to legendary jock Alan Freed altogether – they just no longer want his remains kept there. This NOW Newsletter hears that Freed’s family may pick up his ashes as soon as today, but it was an upsetting episode. Freed was the charismatic radio DJ who popularized the term “rock & roll” and who started doing rock & roll concerts and dances in the early 1950s. One of the things that made them noteworthy is that they were racially integrated, and on the air, Freed played music by both white and black artists. Freed was a pied piper, both on the air and at his live gigs, but unfortunately after he came to New York, he got into big trouble with allegations of payola, and he died in 1965 at the young age of 43...The Plain Dealer’s Laura DeMarco says Freed’s remains were brought to the museum in 2002, with the okay of his family. Now the museum is changing its mind – and the family hopes Freed’s importance won’t be downgraded in the exhibits.