Official: No legal action against profane rapper
The city will not pursue legal action against Wale, the Washington, D.C.-based hip hop artist who reportedly used profanity and a racial slur while performing at Artscape, the director of the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts said Monday.
Organizers were shocked when Wale used offensive language during his performance, BOPA executive director Bill Gilmore told Baltimore Sun colleague Julie Scharper.
“He is not known to do that kind of performance,” said Gilmore. “We were pretty much caught off guard.”
Artscape musicians are cautioned that their acts must be suitable for family audiences, said Gilmore. “This is the first time this had ever happened” at Artscape, he said.
Performers are paid in advance and it is not possible to reduce or revoke the payment, he said. The city does not intend to pursue any type of legal action, he said.
“It was unfortunate,” said Gilmore, noting that the office has discussed preventing similar incidents in the future. “It was a tough lesson and we need to move on.”
Comments
As long as he didn't use a slur to offend black people, then this is a non-issue. Don't you know that entertainers calling white people racist names is 'art?' Stupid white liberals living in Baltimore City, this is what your tax dollars are paying for. Idiots.......LOL
Posted by: Tod | July 26, 2010 7:24 PM
Ben Gilmore must have either a selective or short memory. This is by no way the first time that this has happened at Artscape. If the BOPA has an audio or video of Meshell Ndegeocello's performance at Artscape a few years back then they need to go back and review it. Her performance was way, way more offensive than Wale's.
For those of you who don't know who she is,(a bassist from D.C.) who makes no bones about her lesbianism/bi-sexuallity. There were way more younger children in the audience that day, way more sexual references that had more than a few parents covering their children ears and heading for the exit from the main stage when she performed her song "Barry Farms".
For Wale, there was more of a hip-hop crowd where profanity is second nature in the lyrics. For someone to say that they were shocked by his show is at the very least showing a lack of knowledge of the very acts you are paying to perform. The BOPA needs to do their homework when selecting the acts to perform, rather than taking the cheap way out of this by saying they didn't know Wale performed this way. From the looks of this episode, they didn't know Wale at all.
Posted by: Mack | July 26, 2010 7:31 PM
What was the slur?
Posted by: Mark Morgan | July 26, 2010 9:57 PM
i'll try this again, What was the racial slur? Bet if was some country singer you would print my question.
Posted by: Mark Morgan | July 26, 2010 11:17 PM