Posted on 12/14/2006 7:54:24 AM PST by meg88
A "silent night" as carolers told to stop singing at skating show
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- A high school choir was asked to stop singing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen out of concern the skater would be offended because she's Jewish.
A city staff member, accompanied by a police officer, approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals at the Riverside Outdoor Ice Skating Rink just as they launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and requested that the troupe stop singing, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported Thursday.
Cohen, the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and 2006 U.S. National Champion, had just finished her performance at the rink on the downtown pedestrian mall, and was signing autographs.
Choir director Staci Della-Rocco said she complied with the request "because a policeman told me to stop. I didn't want to have a big old huge scene in front of my kids," according to the newspaper.
The city staff member, special-events employee Michelle Baldwin, could not be reached for comment. City Development Director Belinda J. Graham confirmed the incident.
"This request was simply made by a staff member who was attempting to be sensitive to the celebrity guest, without considering the wider implications ... or consulting with her supervisor for guidance," Graham said in an e-mail to the newspaper.
Mayor Ron Loveridge called the incident "unfortunate."
"You kind of wish people do a little checking first. You certainly have my apology," he said, referring to the choir members.
A spokeswoman with the New York-based PR firm that helped promote the event said Cohen did not make the request to silence the singers.
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(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
bump
Jews are not offended by Christmas.
LOL. This kind of "censorship" sounds pretty Orwellian. What a screwed up society we live in...
The police officer in question has no duty to do what anyone tells him to do unless ordered by a senior officer, and the order is a lawful one.
The city employee should be fired for discrimination, and the cop should be terminated for lack of common sense.
My first response to this city staffer (if I were the choir director) would have been a polite request for the directive to come from Miss Cohen or one of her staff.
Until then the singing would have continued.
My Jewish dentist told me all about her Christmas tree and search for a kosher Christmas turkey today.
I think this is the more common attitude among non-Christians, rather than the PC nut jobs that make the news.
I didn't say it was.
However, until she goes Hollywood, or becomes a registered Democrat, any perceived bashing of Christians could have a detrimental effect on her career. Accordingly, I expect her PR people to put as much distance as possible between Miss Sascha and this "unfortunate misunderstanding."
Persecution of the Church!
Lord have mercy!
I very much agree with you on this.
This non-Christians agrees with your statement 110%
That's gotta be cold.....
After reading this from her diary on her website, I somehow think she would not have been offended by the Christmas carol:
Join Sasha on her Christmas tree lighting tour
December 5, 2006
I feel like Ive been on the Christmas Lighting Tour!
Ive been to New York, San Diego and participated in a tree lighting at the South Coast Plaza here. I just got back from the Galleria in Dallas where I performed in a celebrity skating show last weekend.
It was so wonderful skating with Christine singing when I was skating at Rockefeller Center. Ive always been a fan of hers and I like the song Hurt. I have it on my iPod and play it a lot. Ive even been skating to it at times.
I read where it was estimated about 100,000 attended the tree lighting and performances. The crowd in NYC was very enthusiastic. We all were treated very well by the producers of the program. It was fun working in wardrobe, makeup and hair. Everything is so festive.
By the way the picture of Christina and me was taken by Natasha. Isn't that a great shot?
The tree lighting at the South Coast Plaza was different for me. Hal Landon Jr. and I emceed the lighting of the tree held at Town Center Park last Wednesday. Hal performs as Scrooge each year in a stage production. The 95-foot tree looked so big when looking straight up. I cant imagine how a tree that size gets decorated so beautifully. It holds about 20,000 lights.
The crowd helped us count down the seconds to the lighting of the tree. At each of the final seconds a section of the tree glowed. When we all said One! the star on the top turned bright and a couple buildings outlined in lights had theirs turned on.
The Galleria in Dallas was decorated beautifully for the holidays. I performed last Saturday and there were a lot of other activities for the children. Story times and singalongs were held and of course Santa was kept quite busy despite almost four weeks to Christmas.
I have been very busy but I like to live my life that way. It feels good to have a purpose and work and accomplish a lot of things. Im getting to spend time with my family.
Yesterday I did some voice overs for CSI: NY. I will do some for the movies I did later this week or next.
Sometimes I think I write too much! I will stop for now but post another journal by Thursday with some skating news.
Sasha
I'll guess that the officer was probably working in an off duty for this event so he'd be sort of stuck dealing with the "in house" direction from whoever sponsored the event. Not that common sense wasn't missing here like you say. Should of done his job as normal and see if there is an aggrieved party
Just another sad commentary on what our "society" has become.
Fer cryin' out loud, her CBS special last night was titled, "Silent Night". I don't think Christmas is offensive to her.
Unbelievable. PC run amok once again. I am certain Sasha Cohen would have no objections to Christmas carols being sung while she skates.
Just found this... see #74.
I was not offended.
And thus you will never be a darling of the DBM/liberals as your attitude is far to mature and reasonable to fit in with their PC "get the Christ out of Christmas" mentality/agenda. A fact that you, as any sane person would be, must be thrilled to know! :)
Merry Christmas!
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