28 July 2013 by Jennifer
Wrote some tweets earlier to @ManchesterPride, and then thought they were worth blogging here too:
@ManchesterPride Hoping you'll unbook Queens of Pop. The fact that some people think they're funny doesn't mean they belong at Pride.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride In solidarity with women, in solidarity with Black people, please don't give this platform to a racist/misogynist act.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride Looking more structurally, I'd suggest giving thought to the demographics of whoever's making your bookings, as well.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride Judging the effects of humour is difficult if the people doing the judging aren't from a wide variety of backgrounds.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride Anyway, people are clearly telling you now that Queens of Pop are over the line into racism & sexism.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride I realise it's hard to back down when you thought you were right, & the temptation is to defend what you already decided.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride & having "the world watching you" doesn't make it any easier.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride But the fact is a lot of the world _is_ watching you now.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
@ManchesterPride We're waiting to find out which of us you think deserve to feel welcome at Pride and which of us you think don't matter.
— Jennifer Moore (@UnchartedWorlds) July 28, 2013
For the people who haven’t seen what this is all about, here’s a statement from UK Black Pride, along with some possible action to take if you agree.
To be clear, I have personally watched the video parodying will.i.am’s track and the one it’s a parody of, and thought about it, and that’s my main basis for asserting their act is racist and they don’t belong at Pride.
For the attribute “misogynist”, I’m judging by someone else’s description of other videos by them, which I haven’t watched.
It’s worth noting that although it’s Manchester Pride which is getting all the attention at the moment, as I understand it Queens of Pop are also currently booked for Glasgow and Leeds.
I do have more thoughts about all of this! but might not get around to putting them on the net, due to limited writing time.
Update 29 July: Queens of Pop withdraw from Manchester Pride.
(Also, I was going to do that as a comment, and it didn’t work – apologies to anyone who’s tried to comment on this blog recently, it seems to have gone a bit wrong! must fix later but no time now…)