Comments on: Midsumma Pulls Show From 2021 Program Over Accusations of Blackface

By: Embarrassed

Embarrassed — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 09:16:40 +0000

How far will people continue to go to blow things out of proportion. This is utter crap and such an embarrassment to those involved. It’s an Italian man playing tribute to a performer. Does anyone carry on at other drags doing Dolly Parton cause she’s white? Get a grip the lot of you.

By: I am Anonymous

I am Anonymous — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 12:34:08 +0000

This is the content of an email sent to Midsumma festival. Maybe you could look further into this matter.

I have just read that a Tina Turner show was cancelled due to concerns about racism and blackface.
If Midsumma is going to bend to political correctness and what is deemed offensive, then I question the inclusion of a show called Matador. This title is taking from a sport that has glamourised the killing of animals for people’s enjoyment. Spain is desperately trying to turn a leaf to eradicate this sport and to remove itself from the stigma of the senseless slaughter of so many animals. This show is also by someone that is not Spanish or even from a Spanish speaking background. He is appropriating from a culture unrelated to his own and trying to glamourise a simple love story by using what he probably thinks is a ‘cool’ name. At the very least, Matador means killer. Is he glamourising violence in relationships?? As a person with a Spanish heritage, I am extremely offended by this show, it’s appropriation of a Spanish term that brings us offence and reminds us of the brutal history of a national sport, in order to try and sell a love story through a dance show. This is not acceptable nor should it be admitted to any stage that is supported by a reputable festival or by the local governments. I will be pursuing this matter with the journalist that wrote the article about the Tina Turner show and I will be forwarding my concerns to Peta and the Spanish embassy.
I hope that Midsumma recognize their error and take the same action and stance that has been taken against the Tina Turner show.

Thank you

By: Damien

Damien — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 23:06:13 +0000

Great news! I’d love to see a Tina show. I’m looking forward to the next Tina Turner impersonator willing to do a show, who is (most importantly), the cis-gendered daughter of an African American Baptist deacon and whose mother was a farmer of part-Cherokee and Navajo descent. Once we have a contender, we can attend.

In the meantime, I’ll have to make sure I don’t attend any show where the actor is not the exact same skin tone as the character. I’m guessing that Cattafi’s olive skin tone means he also can’t play anglo-celtic roles either.

By: Johann

Johann — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 12:02:51 +0000

I noticed the following opinions expressed in this article but it’s not clear whose opinions these are:

“Yet the fact remains, we are talking about a performer of European descent, playing the role of a women whose father was an African American Baptist deacon and whose mother was a farmer of part-Cherokee and Navajo descent.”

“Irrespective of his intentions, however noble, in 2021, it is simply not good enough, to hide behind such excuses, particularly when issues of representation are dominating conversations within and outside of the creative industries.”

“Whether or not he wakes up to the offence he has caused, remains to be seen.”

Seems a bit unfair to be subjecting someone to this kind of bullying through the media, don’t you think?