Canada Assassins N word controversy — Page 2

^Exactly. US discussing this, after the fact,, doesn't make it a controversy.

Even if it fits one technical definition, I think some posters are reluctant to call it a "controversy" because that word carries certain connotations in today's day and age that imply something more contentious and publicly-motivated than this is.

We even saw an example of this earlier in the thread: ctorres read the thread title and assumed that this was driven by public outrage. Granted, ctorres probably should've read the article to avoid that mistake, but nevertheless, one can understand how we've been conditioned to associate a certain set of circumstances when we hear the word "controversy."

Also, I think it's worth clarifying what aspect of this, under your definition, is a controversy, and between whom. The conflict between Sondheim and the company was not really a controversy, in that it was simply a request, followed by an answer, and then a decision made according to that answer. No more a controversy than asking a waiter if they can do the Bolognese without meat, only to be told that the meat is already mixed into the sauce, so they must order something else.

Maybe there's some controversy about whether or not the company made the right decision by prioritizing their sensitivity training over the production schedule, but if so, it's worth distinguishing that from any controversy around Sondheim's actual use of the word. I think maybe you're talking about the former, and other people think you're talking about the latter. As far as we can tell, there is none of the latter at play here.

However, even if you're talking about controversy over the company's decision to cancel rather than skip their sensitivity protocol, I'd still question whether there's actually any controversy there. Was there some controversy within the company about this? Very possible. Maybe even likely. But the statement doesn't indicate either way. Was there controversy within the community where the production was going to be staged? Again, very possible, but I have yet to see any indication of that, possibly because no one has linked to anything of that nature in this thread.

The only place I've personally seen discussion about it is in this thread, and so far, nobody here seems to be implying that the company made the wrong call in this specific regard. A lot of the complaints in this thread seem to based on the false assumption that they cancelled the show simply because they found the use of the N-word unacceptable, which isn't the case. Or they're questioning what actually went down behind the scenes - I suppose that's a controversy in a way, but it seems to have been clarified by subsequent posts.

Updated On: 8/12/21 at 03:26 PM

JBroadway said: "We even saw an example of this earlier in the thread: ctorres read the thread title and assumed that this was driven by public outrage. Granted, ctorres probably should'veread the article to avoid that mistake, but nevertheless, one can understand how we've been conditioned to associate a certain set of circumstances when we hear the word "controversy."

Guilty as charged. I completely misunderstood the nature of the cancellation (though, after reading the statement, I am even more confused now than when I started).

binau said: " I find that quite interesting and something worth discussing - I would describe it as a controversial event but don’t mind if others wouldn’t or if it’s not the right word."

I totally agree it is interesting and worth discussing. I also don't mind how you or anyone describes it as long as you understand that what you are describing as controversial is something that happens virtually every day. The only thing I see here that is even potentially controversial is that a producer that knows better didn't recognize what they needed to do in advance to avoid this unfortunate result (and by that, I don't mean the turn down; I mean asking the question in a timely manner so as to avoid having it reach the point of a cancellation of a performance). Clearly someone was not paying attention and I guess "unwitting" is a euphemism for "we F'd up."