Quote Originally Posted by SatansBlues View Post
Another factor that folks either ignore or gloss over is the conversation Berry Gordy had with Mary Wilson on January 14, 1970 after the groups final performance with Diana Ross and Jean Terrell was introduced. This is when Berry informed Mary that he wanted to replace Jean with Syreeta Wright and Mary refused to go along with the plan, after just having intro Jean to the public that very night. Berry informed Mary that he was washing his hands of the group. I think in between moving the company to Los Angeles, launching the solo career of Diana Ross and shifting his attention to making movies Berry didn't have the time for another argument, he was the boss after all. People downplay that power move and look what happened to the group after 2-2 1/2 years.
Well, some people question whether this happened at all. Others, like myself, or maybe I'm the only one, believe that the conversation did happen, but Gordy was not serious with his suggestion. It was a power play for sure, but it was Gordy's way of getting off the hook. He was the boss. If he wanted to replace Jean with Minnie Mouse right up until the moment the new Supremes went onstage for their debut on Sullivan, he could've done it and there wouldn't have been a damn thing any Supreme, Mary included, could do about it. Gordy was no idiot. Anything about Jean that was less than Supreme, he would've seen it and heard it in the six months prior to January 14th. If Syreeta was truly worthy of being a Supreme, she had been with Motown since 1967 and he never would have had to look for a Diana replacement since she was already with the company. Furthermore, a ton of time and attention had been put into Jean as a Supreme. No way does Gordy nix it all at the last minute. That call was him knowing that Mary would be expecting him to give the Supremes his valuable attention when he had known for awhile that once Diana was gone, he would give the group over to others and put his weight behind Diana. So as soon as Mary cried "Berry, you aren't taking care of us the way you used to", Gordy could reply "You're right Mary. But had you gone with my plan to replace Jean with Syreeta, you could've had me. You didn't, so now you don't."

Hands washed, guilt free, everything is Mary's fault.