Posted on 12/15/2006 12:07:41 PM PST by meg88
By Dan Whitcomb | December 14, 2006
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen was "stunned" to learn that a U.S. high school choir had been ordered to stop singing Christmas carols at a holiday show because she is half-Jewish, her mother said on Thursday.
Article Tools Printer friendly E-mail to a friend Other sports RSS feed Available RSS feeds Most e-mailed Share on Facebook Save this article powered by Del.icio.us More: Sports section | Latest sports news | Globe front page | Boston.com Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts A city official accompanied by a police officer caused a stir by silencing the carols on Tuesday night as Cohen signed autographs after a performance in Riverside, California.
Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge has since apologized to the student choir, the Rubidoux High School Madrigals.
To some, the incident appeared an example of excessive political correctness in the United States over the celebration of Christmas -- which some conservative commentators have characterized as a "war on Christmas.'
Cohen, who is half-Christian and "celebrates everything" during the holidays, learned only through news reports that the choir had been cut off on her account, the 22-year-old skater's mother and manager said.
"Sasha was stunned. We both thought the voices were just lovely, they were doing such a wonderful job," Galina Cohen told Reuters. "Christmas carols are part of celebrating the holiday season."
The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper reported that the Madrigals had just launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" when a city special-events employee told them to stop singing.
Cohen's mother said the 2006 Olympic silver medalist and U.S. National Champion had taken part in Christmas tree lighting ceremonies at New York's Rockefeller Center and in California.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Except Kwanzaa, I suspect.
Anyone with a lick of sense and good manners would be.
The city should stop the special-events employee from working for them!
Celebrate "stunned", Sasha. We all are.
Invite a choir to sing Christmas carols and then some wannabe city Stalinist tells them to stop singing? They shoud have doubled their volume!
John and Ken on KFI talked about it yesterday.
BBB's.....busy body bureaucrats
no i hear thats mandatory in nyc public schools, no?
I thought Sasha Cohen was Borat(?), whom I doubt would be offended by anything.
"Half-Christian", eh? Where do these idiot reporters come from? Does he think that being a Christian is a hereditary thing or something? It's a belief system not a race thing, foo!
We've got rules here.
special-events employee = Politically Correct Dullard
How can someone be "half-Christian"? Half-Jewish makes sense in the context of ethnicity, but that doesn't apply to the 'Christian' label.
plus, the real words are "God Rest Ye Jerry Mandelbaum"
So, how does one split a triune God? Half-Christian? Jeepers!
This is assinine- it really is- Cripes- we can't even mention the nake of the most peaceful figure in history- Christ- in pulbic anymore- yet it's just fine and dandy to sing odes to a mass murdering lunatic who perpetrates racism and hatred. htpp://sacredscoop.com
Thanks for observing them!
{;0)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.