Nov 10, 2017 05:37 AM
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/11/01/...-got-ugly/
EXCERPT: Lido Pimienta, a Colombian-Canadian singer, asked white audience members to move to the back of the concert hall and people of color to move to the front during her Halifax Pop Explosion gig [...] last month [...]
While Pimienta’s request was nothing new — it’s often part of her shows — this time it apparently was met with some resistance [...] A white female volunteer who was reportedly there to photograph the show [...] reacted with what festival officials called “aggressive” and “overt racism,” Billboard said. [...] the female photographer refused to move from her spot near the front of the stage [...]
Nearby crowd members got angry at the photographer for refusing to move, O’Manique added. O’Manique recalled Pimienta “just kept saying, ‘Move to the back,'” the paper said.
“Finally after saying it about 10 times — and the woman refused to move — [Pimienta] said, ‘You’re cutting into my set time, and you’re disrespecting these women, and I don’t have time for this,” O’Manique said, according the Post.
Event organizers said the volunteer was kicked out of the concert and is no longer affiliated with the festival, the paper reported.
[...] The board of directors for Halifax Pop Explosion issued a lengthy statement blasting the white volunteer and apologizing profusely to Pimienta, Billboard noted.
“We will not accept this behavior and neither should you,” a portion of the statement reads. “Be responsible for your friends — talk to them and support them as they move towards unpacking their racism. People of Color deserve safe spaces and it is your responsibility to help. It is also ours.”
“To Lido Pimienta: we are sorry that one of our volunteers interrupted your art, your show, and your audience by being aggressive and racist,” the statement also said. “We have so much respect for the art and music you create and the space you make for women, people of color, transgender, and nonbinary people.
The way you interact with the world acts and provides a thoughtful example. You are a role model to us and many people in our community. We see it. We feel it. We hope you will work with us again.”
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/11/01/...-got-ugly/
EXCERPT: Lido Pimienta, a Colombian-Canadian singer, asked white audience members to move to the back of the concert hall and people of color to move to the front during her Halifax Pop Explosion gig [...] last month [...]
While Pimienta’s request was nothing new — it’s often part of her shows — this time it apparently was met with some resistance [...] A white female volunteer who was reportedly there to photograph the show [...] reacted with what festival officials called “aggressive” and “overt racism,” Billboard said. [...] the female photographer refused to move from her spot near the front of the stage [...]
Nearby crowd members got angry at the photographer for refusing to move, O’Manique added. O’Manique recalled Pimienta “just kept saying, ‘Move to the back,'” the paper said.
“Finally after saying it about 10 times — and the woman refused to move — [Pimienta] said, ‘You’re cutting into my set time, and you’re disrespecting these women, and I don’t have time for this,” O’Manique said, according the Post.
Event organizers said the volunteer was kicked out of the concert and is no longer affiliated with the festival, the paper reported.
[...] The board of directors for Halifax Pop Explosion issued a lengthy statement blasting the white volunteer and apologizing profusely to Pimienta, Billboard noted.
“We will not accept this behavior and neither should you,” a portion of the statement reads. “Be responsible for your friends — talk to them and support them as they move towards unpacking their racism. People of Color deserve safe spaces and it is your responsibility to help. It is also ours.”
“To Lido Pimienta: we are sorry that one of our volunteers interrupted your art, your show, and your audience by being aggressive and racist,” the statement also said. “We have so much respect for the art and music you create and the space you make for women, people of color, transgender, and nonbinary people.
The way you interact with the world acts and provides a thoughtful example. You are a role model to us and many people in our community. We see it. We feel it. We hope you will work with us again.”
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/11/01/...-got-ugly/