Princeton Singers Abandon a ‘Little Mermaid’ Song Over Kissing Concerns

New York Times ^ | December 3, 2018 | Sopan Deb

[reaganaut1]

For many years, the Princeton Tigertones, an all-male a cappella group at Princeton University, has had a tradition while performing “Kiss the Girl,” a song written for the 1989 Disney animated classic “The Little Mermaid.”

The singers call up a woman from the audience to do some lighthearted dancing. Then they do the same with a male audience member. As the song concludes, the two audience members dance together — and end the number by smooching at the urging of the singers: The last line of the song is “Go on and kiss the girl!”

But last week, the president of the Tigertones, a senior named Wesley Brown, announced in a letter to The Daily Princetonian that the group would temporarily remove the song from its set list in response to complaints that it is misogynistic and violates the principle of consent. Brown apologized in the letter and said the group would try to rework the performance.

“Performances of this song have made participants uncomfortable and offended audience members,” which the group regrets, Brown wrote.

There have been other recent instances of artistic flare-ups on campuses. Last year, Brandeis University canceled a Michael Weller play about Lenny Bruce after students and faculty protested its depictions of minorities. Around the same time, the University of Connecticut’s student union axed an appearance by the comedian Owen Benjamin, who had made comments about transgender children and hormone replacement. And in October, Kent State University canceled a production of “West Side Story,” after students were upset by the lead roles not going to people of color.

Amid the #MeToo movement, many works of art are being reassessed for how they discuss power dynamics.

[RatRipper]

This reminds me of a plaque hung behind a bar:

“The beatings will continue until morale improves.”

Great song. . . their loss. The world the left is creating sucks big time. Time to routinely say to the left: “Up yours!!!!”

[bgill]

If Annie can be a little black girl and Dorothy Gale can be a freaky black guy, why can’t Tony and Maria be portrayed by someone other than Hispanic? That right there is being racist by Kent State.

As for the kissing, have none of them heard of ACTING? Simply turn away from the audience and ACT like they’re kissing or put their hands over their mouths. Geez, such ninnies twisting every little thing.

[Dahoser]

This insanity has to stop, but it shows no sign of letting up or being limited to college campuses. The idea that radio stations won't play "Baby It's Cold Outside" and now that one or two have done it, that song is toast everywhere, shows it's going to continue in all directions.

I'm reminded that I wrote an article for my Neurons on Paper FB page (not pimping it, just saying) about a year and a half ago concerning this phenomenon of banning rather than changing the station or not reading as we were told all through the years to do by the liberals when we complained. My conclusion being that the millennials have been raised by parents who regularaly eliminated and banned things from their environments that they didn't like or were allergic to like peanuts, and so they've come to expect that's how it works everywhere with everything they don't like or consider themselves allergic to.

[Albion Wilde]

[foreverfree]

bump