Dallas police will cite Erykah Badu for disorderly conduct for her strip-down video shot on the site of John F. Kennedy's assassination. If convicted, the singer could face a $500 fine or less on the Class C misdemeanor.
This seems more or less appropriate. Ms. Badu showed poor judgment and bad taste when she had herself filmed walking along the Dealey Plaza streets, taking off her clothes until she was naked and at the end, simulating her own death by a gunshot to the head.
Ms. Badu's claim she was making some kind of statement about "groupthink" is ludicrous and irrelevant. Transgressing rules is one thing, blatant disrespect is another. She disrespected the memory of President Kennedy and she disrespected those present at Dealey plaza that day. Of course, she said she took some precautions against "traumatizing" the children who might see a naked lady walk by them and act like she got shot: "...in my mind I tried to telepathically communicate my good intent to them. That’s all I could do, and I hoped they wouldn’t be traumatized."
Had she done the same act in downtown Oklahoma City or lower Manhattan that might make her disrespect of the dead more apparent, because those tragedies are much more recent in our memory. But it's there in this action just the same.
On the other hand, impolite behavior, disrespect and vacuous stupidity aren't against the law, so the citation has to name a real offense. Ms. Badu doesn't merit any stronger legal sanction than the ticket and fine, and anything more would just offer her the publicity she's craving anyway. More people have talked about her this week than they have in years (after a debut album that went triple platinum, her 2008 release didn't even make gold), and that's probably what she was really after.
2 comments:
So, I want to get this straight.
Some no name, less than popular, talentless singer strips down in front of the Texas Book depository and you feel the need to right about it?
But Philip Pullman comes out with a "Jesus had an evil twin brother" book and you aren't even giving that a hiccup. Where is the justice?
BTW - Castle? What do you think?
Bwah! Actually, I was waiting to zap Pullman post-Easter so I could stay off the "anti-religious religion stories during Holy Week" bandwagon.
I've only see snips of "Castle;" one or two episodes seem alright but it hasn't grabbed me enough to start scheduling it, even though it has The Mighty Nathan Fillion in it.
Post a Comment