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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHumiliation In San Diego--SD padres' disgusting treatment of SD Gay Men's Chorus
(sorry, I cannot get the link to display properly. it is on today's daily kos)
(yet another reason to despise professional sports teams)
Humiliation In San Diego
Sometimes there are stories that make me so angry Im practically incoherent with rage. This is one of them. Last night, the San Diego Gay Mens Chorus was scheduled to sing the National Anthem at Petco Park for the game between the Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers. What should have been a highlight of the performance year turned into something far worse. From the Facebook page of the SDGMC:
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SAN DIEGO, May 22, 2016What should have been a night of joy and celebration at Petco Park last night, instead turned into a nightmare raising serious questions about homophobia within the San Diego Padres organization and its relationship with the LGBT community.
Before the start of the last nights San Diego Padres game, 100 volunteer singers of the San Diego Gay Mens Chorus took to the field to proudly sing the National Anthem. Instead, in front of the large crowd gathered for the LA Dodgers game, the San Diego Padres played the recorded voice of a woman singing the anthem. No attempt was made to stop the recording and start over. No announcement of apology was made to the singers or their friends and families in the stands. No attempt to correct the situation occurred other than to force the 100 men to stand in the spotlight of center field for the songs duration and then be escorted off the field to the heckles of baseball fans shouting homophobic taunts including You sing like a girl.
This incident followed several days of troubling comments and behavior within the San Diego Padres organization. Three days before the game, San Diego Padres representatives aggressively sought to prevent singers from performing the National Anthem unless they purchased a ticket to the gameeven if they did not plan to stay for the gamewhich was not part of any previous discussion or written or verbal agreement and would have cost the small, community-based non-profit thousands of dollars. The demand eventually was rescinded on Friday following repeated complaints made by SDGMC and San Diego Pride to San Diego Padres management.
With this as background, we call on the San Diego Padres and Major League Baseball to immediately launch a full and transparent investigation into the incident to determine if someone or some people intentionally engaged in anti-gay discrimination or a hate crime by playing a females voice to represent a group of gay men with the purpose of denigrating and/or ridiculing gay men. The historic significance of such an act is not lost on the LGBT communityespecially in relation to professional sportsand added to the depth of embarrassment experienced by the singers and their families.
. . . .
Initech
(100,139 posts)So while it was a colossal fuck up, it does have a good ending, sort of.
niyad
(113,860 posts)This evening, during the pregame ceremony, a mistake was made in the Petco Park control room that prevented the San Diego Gay Mens Chorus from performing the National Anthem as scheduled. We apologize to anyone in the ballpark who this may have offended, and have reached out to the Chorus to express our deep regret for the error.
Throd
(7,208 posts)What are the Padres supposed to do now?
niyad
(113,860 posts)hmm, what should the padres do? how about season tickets for the SDGMC for starters? a public and direct apology from the assholes who did this deliberately for another. I am sure the organization can come up with some appropriate mea culpas.
niyad
(113,860 posts)ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)I post on another board, and a guy from San Diego claims he knows the DJ who was just hired this year. Said the backing track from the night before (which was a woman singer) was cued up.
Not really sure why they couldn't just stop the track and let them start over.
Response to niyad (Original post)
Post removed
MindPilot
(12,693 posts)Put yourself in his place; you are a professional. You produce your work in front of tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands more on TV and radio. You don't make on-air mistakes...you just don't.
I don't know much about DJ-ing but I have participated in the production of live TV broadcasts.
So the two things that jump out at me. That recording had to be cued up and ready to play. Somebody think maybe the guys wouldn't show? Second, there is absolutely no way he could have not known the instant it happened. But instead of cutting it off, he let it play all the way through. And nobody from the Padres management called the DJ booth to say "hey man you got the wrong thing playing".
That was no mistake.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Buster Olney said he didn't think it was accidental, or even a possible accident.
And he's 1. a guy who spends a lot of time in baseball stadiums and 2. previously covered the Padres full time, so I trust his opinion on this one when he says somebody did it intentionally.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)But then there would be someone on the field who would recognize right away something was wrong. It's not like it's a short song.
senz
(11,945 posts)LGBTs suffer so much humiliation and rejection from unthinking, unfeeling people. I'll bet they would have given a beautiful performance. I hope the Padres can make it up to them and that the SDGMC will have much recognition and success in the coming months and years.
Little Tich
(6,171 posts)singers.
This story makes me a bit angry too.
Dorian Gray
(13,523 posts)it sucks for the singers. Totally.
The Padres need to apologize and make things right here.
Firing the DJ is a good start. (I saw someone posted that, but no proof from a news article.)
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)It says he "defends himself" but it doesn't really explain why the tape/file couldn't have been halted and they just start over.
I suspect this guy is taking a fall for the Padres playing games.
Dorian Gray
(13,523 posts)and if it is, it sucks.
Response to niyad (Original post)
Post removed
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)Sounds like a colossal fuck up and yeah, the Padres could have handled it better, but it doesn't sound like they were deliberately prevented from singing. I hope they are invited back at some point.
niyad
(113,860 posts)Before the start of the last nights San Diego Padres game, 100 volunteer singers of the San Diego Gay Mens Chorus took to the field to proudly sing the National Anthem. Instead, in front of the large crowd gathered for the LA Dodgers game, the San Diego Padres played the recorded voice of a woman singing the anthem. No attempt was made to stop the recording and start over. No announcement of apology was made to the singers or their friends and families in the stands. No attempt to correct the situation occurred other than to force the 100 men to stand in the spotlight of center field for the songs duration and then be escorted off the field to the heckles of baseball fans shouting homophobic taunts including You sing like a girl.
This incident followed several days of troubling comments and behavior within the San Diego Padres organization. Three days before the game, San Diego Padres representatives aggressively sought to prevent singers from performing the National Anthem unless they purchased a ticket to the gameeven if they did not plan to stay for the gamewhich was not part of any previous discussion or written or verbal agreement and would have cost the small, community-based non-profit thousands of dollars. The demand eventually was rescinded on Friday following repeated complaints made by SDGMC and San Diego Pride to San Diego Padres management.
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)that this happened at Pride night at the stadium - that's why the SDGMC was there. Thus it sounds like a big fuck up, IMO. Why would they have deliberately been prevented from singing at Pride night?
niyad
(113,860 posts)but it doesn't sound like they were deliberately prevented from singing-- really?????? what do YOU think happened, then?
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)which would have provided more context.
I think it was a big mistake, a preventable mistake - but I don't think there was anything deliberate going on. Just my opinion.
niyad
(113,860 posts)going on? seriously? then please explain what happened in non-deliberate terms.
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)that it was a mistake, that is all.
niyad
(113,860 posts)being cut off, and there was no immediate action to correct. and you think this was a simple "mistake"? again, explain how, when the cuing of the recording was a deliberate, uninterrupted action.
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)I have nothing more to add.
You have a good day!
niyad
(113,860 posts)BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)neither was I. I stated that imo it was a mistake.
Whatever you're saying is also opinion.
Yay for opinions.
niyad
(113,860 posts)what happened, the technical aspects, which made "mistake" an impossibility.
but, your only concern is that the article did not say "Pride Night". interesting.
BuddhaGirl
(3,615 posts)as to what happened. We all have our opinions. I look forward to hearing that the Padres invite the SDMGC back, don't you?
niyad
(113,860 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)Someone was messing around and doing their best to make sure the choir did not feel welcomed....when they were overruled and the choir was allowed to come without paying, the wrong music was played, and not stopped... and 100 singers, all of whom probably paid for parking, cleaned and ironed their choir uniforms, drove to the stadium were then treated like garbage and not allowed to sing.
As a gay person this reeks of homophobia. Take out "gay" and put in African American Choir, or Jewish Choir, or any other group who has a choir and it would be racism clear and simple.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)That is not standard and the singer is never asked to pay for a ticket. I was asked to sing at a Blazers game and it is considered an honor but the singer does not pay.
It seems that Pride Night was more of a No Pride Night.
TeamPooka
(24,292 posts)GummyBearz
(2,931 posts)Sarcasm aside, this is really shitty thing to happen and my first impression is that it was done on purpose. It makes the city I live in look pretty damn ugly. I hope something is done to make it up to those men... what a shitty thing
ericson00
(2,707 posts)and how they're not fired yet surprises me.
however, I can't see any legal ramifications since no one was physically hurt, unless the voice on the recording was not authorized to be used