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San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus booed at Padres Baseball Stadium

topdog

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The San Diego Gay Men's Chorus was introduced to sing the USA national anthem Saturday Night before the San Diego Padres baseball game. After a long wait, prerecorded music started - but it was not their backing track. Instead, a recording of a woman singing the Star Spangled Banner was played instead. The chorus stood there waiting for the mistake to be corrected, but the song played on to the end.

Afterward, the men were escorted off the field. That's when the really bad stuff began: heckling from the crowd, and taunts of "You sing like a girl".

There was no announcement; no apology to the crowd during the game.

Later Saturday evening, the Padres organization released a statement, which says in part:

“This evening, during the pregame ceremony, a mistake was made in the Petco Park control room that prevented the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus from performing the National Anthem as scheduled. We apologize to anyone in the ballpark who this may have offended, and have reached out to the Chorus to express our deep regret for the error."

23xp-padres-master550.jpg


See the NBC News article below for details including statements today from both the Padres, SDGMC, and Major League Baseball.

San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus Shut Out at Petco Park

My opinion:
Technical glitches happen, and I believe that is what happened here. However, I think the way we respond to our mistakes show our character, and that's where the Padres fell flat.

That official statement is a template for lame ass apologies. Do they own up to their technical incompetence? No. Instead they go for the passive, infuriating and fault-deflecting phrase "a mistake was made". Do they acknowledge that their error hurt the choir and exposed them to ridicule. No. Again they pull out the grossly ineffectual phrase "We apologize to anyone... this may have offended...". They can't even straight up admit that damage occurred.

Needless to say, this "apology" came across as rather weak to SDGMC and other shocked bystanders.

Knowing how to apologize is a basic life skill that we all need to have. Here's a basic PR lesson for any organization (and individual people as well): Even if the hurt was caused unintentionally, an apology always has two requirements:
  1. Acknowledge what you did that caused the hurt, and do it in the most direct "the buck stops here" terms possible. Even if you are only one of several people responsible, take ownership of your part. "We did (or failed to do) X."
  2. Directly acknowledge the pain, injury, or inconvenience to the other party. Pain is pain, whether it was caused intentionally or not. The other person needs to know that you "get it". Statements like "If you were offended..." makes it sound like a normal person wouldn't have taken offense and it is the injured party's fault for being hurt. That is not going to fly. Spell out the consequences for the mistake.
After these first two items are addressed, you can go on to discuss repairing the damage and preventing new episodes. But that discussion should be a conversation (listening and getting feedback) between both parties.
 
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W!nston

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Padres discipline employee after gay men's chorus is drowned out singing national anthem
Miami Herald | BY MATT HAMILTON AND TONY BARBOZA | MAY 23, 2016 4:00 AM

The San Diego Padres said late Sunday that it had disciplined an employee and stopped working with a contractor who was responsible for marring the performance of the national anthem by the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus.

The San Diego Padres said late Sunday that it had disciplined an employee and stopped working with a contractor who was responsible for marring the performance of the national anthem by the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus.

The choir's Saturday performance was drowned out by a recording of a woman singing the national anthem that was broadcast in the stadium.

The incident generated outrage, partly because the chorus was singing during "Out at the Park," a special LGBT pride event at the stadium. Members of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus accused the Padres of homophobia and called for an investigation by the team as well as Major League Baseball.

The Padres said in a statement that it had conducted an internal probe and concluded that there was "no evidence of malicious intent" by any of the individuals involved in the mishap, but the organization faulted personnel for not immediately intervening and correcting the situation.

"We once again sincerely apologize to members of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus, their families and those who came out to support their Pride Night performance," the team said in its statement. "The Padres organization is proud of our longstanding commitment to inclusion - within both our sport and our community. We deeply regret that a mistake on our part has called this into question, but accept full responsibility."

Before the game began, the nearly 100-member choir was ushered to the outfield, wearing matching black dress shirts. The chorus was supposed to sing along with a pre-recorded track, which amplifies their voices for the large venue. Instead, the solo female voice was piped through the stadium.

"We were like, 'What's going on?' " said Michael Pluff, a member of the choir for two years. Others said they were shocked and embarrassed.

"The song finished and nothing happened. Nobody spoke," said Bob Lehman, executive director of the chorus. "We didn't know what to do."

Without explanation, Padres staff ushered the group off the field. Many fans applauded, others heckled and yelled derogatory barbs, choir members said.

One fan mocked the singers, saying, "That's the best you've ever sounded." Another yelled, "'You sang like a girl,' which to a gay man is pretty insulting," Lehman said.

Lehman and other chorus members began wondering whether the mishap was a cruel prank to drown out the voices of gay men on a night commemorating equality for gays and lesbians.

"What should have been a night of joy and celebration at Petco Park last night instead turned into a nightmare raising serious questions about homophobia within the San Diego Padres organization and its relationship with the LGBT community," the chorus said in a statement posted on Facebook early Sunday.

By late Sunday, however, Lehman said he saw what happened as an accident and applauded the team for taking disciplinary action.

The Padres' chief executive officer, Mike Dee, called Lehman to explain what happened. Lehman said Dee told him that a contractor did not load the choir's recording, so the previous night's recording played instead. A Padres employee, Lehman said, failed to "hit the kill switch" when the wrong music played. Dee also invited Lehman to visit the sound booth and see the exact process, he said.

"They are just heartbroken this kind of thing happened," said Lehman, noting that he and Dee plan to meet in the next few days.

Pluff, another chorus member, also applauded the team's statement but said that internal investigations in companies can often be biased toward a specific outcome.

"A more independent investigation would be nice and appropriate," said Pluff, 36, a San Diego resident who works in the defense industry. "They need to do something more visible and something that's going to be publicized a little greater than a quick Tweet or paragraph."

Billy Bean, the vice president of social responsibility and inclusion for Major League Baseball, said the "technical error" was "very unfortunate" and praised the Padres for supporting inclusiveness.

"They have made every effort to include the LGBT community and champion equality in MLB for each and every one of us," said Bean, who publicly came out as gay in 1999.

A Padres spokeswoman defended the team's record of working with the LGBT community, noting that it was the first team in Major League Baseball to host Pride Night in 2001.

SOURCE

An innocent mistake? WTF? This seems like an orchestrated event down to the last detail of the chorus being quickly ushered off the field after their public humiliation was finished.
 

gb2000ie

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I work with technology, so I know glitches like this can happen. It seems plausible that a recording from a previous event could have ended up stuck somewhere it shouldn't have, and been played. The fact that a representative of the chorus has been invited to come into the sound booth so they can show exactly how the mistake happened is reasuring. If it were not for that offer, I think all this would smell spectacuarlly fishy to me.

B.
 

tonka

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They really screwed it up, but their intentions were good.

But baseball has lots of games. Reschedule....and the boys will sing their asses off!
 

W!nston

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Padres DJ Fired for Gay Men’s Chorus Flub Re-Hired Following MLB Investigation
Towleroad | by Sean Mandell | May 26, 2016 | 4:50pm

The DJ responsible for the humiliating incident involving the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego at the Padres’ Pride Night game has been re-hired by the team following an MLB investigation which found no “malicious intent” behind the error.

DJ Artform previously came out and apologized for the incident, saying it was the result of an unintended mistake.

The Gay Men’s Chorus accepted Artform’s apology and called for him to be reinstated.

Artform shared the news that he had been invited to return to the Padres organization on Facebook, writing,

Speaking from the heart got me this far, so I’ll speak from the heart again as this controversy comes to a close. First and foremost, I would like to personally thank the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus, MLB and the San Diego Padres for truly understanding what caused the error during the National Anthem. I’m extremely humbled and honored for the tons of support of individuals who truly know my character and for those who had no idea who I was but believed in me from the start. I am extremely relieved that MLB’s thorough investigation concluded and found the truth behind this entire unfortunate event. I would also like to thank the entire community for rallying behind me and signing the petition requesting reinstatement of my duties with the San Diego Padres. I have spoken to an executive within the Padres and,while details have not yet been discussed, have accepted an invitation to return and again provides services to the team. I truly hope we can continue to build bridges with and between the LGBT community and Major League Baseball, as well as athletics in general. Once again, I am truly sorry for the incident that occurred and for all those negatively affected, the Chorus in particular. I’ve exposed my heart to the world and I appreciate you all rallying behind this San Diegan.

SOURCE

It was the right thing to do. I would say that he is fortunate this happened to the Gay Men's Chorus representing the LGBT community on Gay Pride night rather than have it happen during a less forgiving and conciliatory minority community during one of their 'Pride' event nights.

We can be even more proud of the SD Gay Men's Chorus for how they handled this. I can only imagine the laughs everyone will get from this story for years and years to come. It is quite funny in a Priscilla Queen of the Desert sort of way. I've seen some drag shows that weren't planned to be comedies but ended up an embarrassing moment.

I think this story should be posted on every MLB website, locker room wall and publications as an example of how to handle a situation that could have become a PR nightmare and turn it into a Community Interest story instead.
 

gb2000ie

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I really don't like the trend we seem to be seeing these days of firing people first, and THEN having an investigation. It's like a human sacrifice to Twitter Rage.

I'm sure it make the twitterati feel very powerful, but I really wouldn't want to be on the end of that mob's anger, especially when it is as fact-free as it usually is.

B.
 

gb2000ie

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I don't blame the social media for this trend of instant dismissal then reinstatement if you happen to be lucky.
It is only possible because hard won employee rights have been stripped away, a process that began in the Reagan/Thatcher era and has been continuing ever since then.

I think there's more than enough blame to go around.

The interplay between the media and social media may not be solely to blame for these witch-hunts, but they are also very far from blameless.

B.
 

flikhem

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We can be even more proud of the SD Gay Men's Chorus for how they handled this.
Hear, hear. Situation handled correctly. Rare in these cases when everyone comes out looking good.
 
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