Singer Delivers Beautiful Rendition Of National Anthem, Audience Member Delivers Anti-Gay Slur
After an Australian opera singer sang the national anthem at a basketball game attended by thousands, one audience member felt the uncontrollable need to offer a rendition of his own peculiar response.
On Stage with members of both teams and about a dozen young children, prominent Opera Australia tenor Kanen Breen sang the national anthem Saturday night at the FIBA basketball final at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. When he was done, one of the 15,000 audience members yelled “faggot!”
Breen, who has appeared on Broadway, is gay and raising a child with his best friend and fellow Opera Australian principal singer Jacqueline Dark.
“I am beyond stunned by this,” Dark wrote on Facebook in a post that has been shared over 800 times. “Beyond hurt and beyond angry.” She suggests Breen’s rainbow tie might have had something to do with the attack, adding that Breen told her the slur was “clear as a gunshot.”
Breen “took it in his stride,” she notes, “texting me that it had happened and adding ‘My work here is done.’.”
“I found myself unable to accept it with such grace, and then found myself wondering why this was so,” Dark writes. “The sad conclusion I have reached is that he can accept it because it happens to him every day. Every. Day. Stop to consider that – imagine that every time you leave the house, you’re resigned to the fact that you’ll cop abuse from complete strangers. That you could be standing in a silence in front of 15 000 people – the most vulnerable a performer will ever be – and be shot down by a pathetic, cowardly word. I sometimes see it: When we’re walking down the street and a stranger sneers “Nice pantsâ€, or when he’s riding on the train with our son and an ignorant bigot yells out “Oh, look – the poofter’s got a baby!†I’m outraged every time and can’t believe that this is 2015 Australia. He shrugs it off and occasionally tells me if there’s a really bad event. I find this sadder than the abuse itself. That people are walking around every day expecting to be abused. Resigned to it. USED to it. This appalls me beyond words.”
Dark also turned the event into a plea for marriage equality, an issue Australia is grappling with currently.
“People ask why we need marriage equality in this country and say there are bigger issues to deal with. This. This is why we need equality. Because neanderthal bullies like this still exist, some of them wearing business suits and responsible for running countries.”
Because some people are made to feel like second-class citizens and lesser people every day. Because in a thousand tiny ways, our society tells those people that they are worth less and that they should be ashamed of who they are. Because good people often do nothing when bigots attack somebody for their gender or their sexuality or their size, or just for looking a certain way. Because to a great many people, this is NOT a small issue.”
“It may be insignificant to you, if you’re a happily married heterosexual looking out at it from your position of privilege, never even questioning that your relationship is accepted and validated and that you can walk down the street without fear of being spat at. It’s a huge issue if your country tells you that the relationship you’ve been in for 20 years is not legitimate, that you are not worth fighting for, that it’s OK that you have less rights than someone who was born just slightly differently to you. I say it’s time. It’s time to stop hiding behind religious or ‘moral’ arguments which, upon examination, are frivolous at best and consist of the same tired old chestnuts which have been comprehensively refuted time and again. It’s time to stop clinging desperately to what IS and look to what is RIGHT. It’s time to silence the bigots. It’s time for all good people to stand up and say that this is not OK. It’s time to be on the right side of history.”
And she also took the opportunity to slam the bigot who saw fit to hurl the homophobic slur, and those who chose to allow it to go unchecked.
“Heckler, you are an embarrassment. Everyone else in the crowd who didn’t comprehensively shout this bigot down, you are also an embarrassment,” she wrote. “Heckler, I hope your children were not there to witness this. Actually, I hope they were. I hope they were incredibly embarrassed by your bigotry. I hope your family were embarrassed. I hope your mother was embarrassed. I hope they all sit you down and tell you that you are a disgrace and that your actions have brought shame on them. I fear this will not be the case, because bigots are made, not born.”Â
Dark has now changed her Facebook profile image to a photo of Breen’s rainbow tie.
Posted by Jacqui Dark on Sunday, August 16, 2015
Watch:
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Image via Facebook
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U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, Republican of Georgia, is under fire after praising University of Mississippi students, some wearing American flag outfits, mocking a Black woman protester by making monkey sounds and shouting, “lock her up.”
“Counter-protestors at the University of Mississippi made racist remarks — including monkey noises and comparisons to Lizzo — towards a Black woman who was part of a planned protest against the war in Gaza,” Los Angeles Magazine reported Friday.
Collins, who tried to defund Vice President Kamala Harris’ Office in November, declared his support for the counter-protesters at “Ole Miss,” as the University is called.
“Ole Miss taking care of business,” he wrote on social media, atop the video (below).
The counter-protesters, as evidenced in the video, appear to be mostly white.
A large number of users on the social media platform X responded, accusing the Congressman and the counter-protesters of racism.
“When is the inevitable ‘I don’t have a racist bone in my body’ tweet coming,” wondered Rewire News Group editor-at-large Imani Gandy.
“Which part is your favorite, Mike?” asked Fred Wellman, the former executive director of The Lincoln Project. “Is it the white kid acting like a monkey at the black woman or the white security guy acting like she’s a threat? I’m trying to figure out which flavor of racism has you all excited the most?”
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Harvard Law Cyberlaw Clinic clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo responded to the Georgia GOP congressman, “Thanks for confirming you’re a massive racist piece of sh*t.”
Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman wrote: “Rep. Mike Collins, R-Georgia, praises a video showing a University of Mississippi frat boy dancing like a monkey and making monkey noises near a Black woman student who was protesting for Palestine while other frat boys chant ‘lock her up.'”
In a separate post describing a separate video taken of the same group Pittman wrote: “Frat bros at @OleMiss chant, ‘Lizzo! Lizzo!’ and shout, ‘F**k you fatass, f**k you b*tch’ at a Black woman who was protesting for Palestine. Do people really think these counterprotestors are doing it to support Jews?”
Journalist John Harwood did not mince words, writing, “Congressman proud of the racism.”
“Okay, Mike. We get it,” wrote podcast host, documentary director, and author W. Kamau Bell. “You want to be famous for being a racist. Fine. I’ll help you become a famous racist. You’re welcome.”
The original video is here.
See Rep. Collins’ post and the video below or at this link.
Caution: the video is disturbing.
Ole Miss taking care of business. pic.twitter.com/JiL9hs2pHz
— Rep. Mike Collins (@RepMikeCollins) May 3, 2024
READ MORE: Noem Heads to Mar-a-Lago After Branding Kids She Ministered in Church ‘Little Tyrants’
Amid more damning revelations from her soon-to-be released book, embattled South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem will head to Mar-a-Lago this weekend as ex-president Donald Trump auditions potential vice presidential picks in front of high-dollar donors. Noem was also slated to attend a Republican fundraiser in Colorado this weekend but it was canceled over alleged safety concerns after news broke she had bragged about shooting her 14-month old dog.
While Noem’s shooting to death of her wirehaired pointer, Cricket, which she detailed in the book, is still making headlines overnight a new revelation made news: Noem falsely claims in her book she met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
A spokesperson for Noem “seemed to concede that the Kim story was false Thursday night,” and notified her publisher, Politico’s Ryan Lizza reported in his exclusive.
But less noticed appears to be the actual text of Noem’s false story, in which she brands children she ministered in church “little tyrants,” and compared them to the murderous North Korean dictator.
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“Through my tenure on the House Armed Services Committee,” Noem wrote, according to Politico, “I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders. I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all).”
CNBC reported this week Trump “will mingle with potential vice presidential running mates and wealthy Republican donors at the Republican National Committee’s spring donor retreat. The meetings are likely to act as informal tryouts for a short list of politicos in the running to join the Trump ticket.”
The list of Republican “special guests” includes U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott, and J.D. Vance, Rep. Elise Stefanik, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem.
Also expected to attend are House Speaker Mike Johnson, U.S. Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and other elected Republicans along with RNC co-chair Lara Trump.
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NBC News, which says Rep. Donalds is also under consideration, on Friday added there will be “a fundraising retreat that could serve as a screening session” for potential vice presidential running mates.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County, Colorado Republican Party chair announced a fundraising dinner Noem was slated to attend was canceled after threats were made, The Denver Post reports.
“We understood there was a planned organized protest outside of the hotel, led by Progress Now,” Nancy Pallozzi said. “I felt that our event would be negatively impacted, and we could not take the risk that those who made threats would cause physical harm.”
Over the weekend independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spoke at a fundraiser for a far-right anti-government group in Erie County, New York – a slice of the country that had a large proportion of residents arrested and charged for crimes related to the January 6 insurrection. Kennedy, a conspiracy theorist and vaccine denialist, increasingly is embracing the far-right.
“That group, Constitutional Coalition of New York State, has founders who not only have ties to Donald Trump but are also connected to the stop-the-steal movement through their activist network, which includes groups that had a presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” The Daily Beast reported Friday. “It’s yet another instance of Kennedy—who is mounting one of the most well-funded third-party presidential threats in decades—serving as a peculiar bridge between his own anti-establishment movement and Trump’s.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center includes the Constitutional Coalition of New York State (CCNYS) on its page of anti-government groups. Political Research Associates, which detailed the high proportion of January 6 residents arrested and charged, included the Constitutional Coalition of New York State in its February report on “The Rise of the Far Right in Western New York.”
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“If you don’t think the government is lying to you, you’re not paying attention,” Kennedy told attendees at the CCNYS fundraiser, The Buffalo News reports.
“CCNYS founders Nick and Nancie Orticelli are also affiliated with the Watchmen, a nearby militia who Nick has encouraged his social media followers to join. The Watchmen had several members at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and one member, Pete Harding, is still facing charges for violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” The Daily Beast noted. “Nancie Orticelli has also hosted the Watchmen’s founder, Charles Pellien, on her weekly radio show on several occasions.”
One of Kennedy’s goals in traveling to New York was to get on the ballot for the November presidential election. Various polls show him taking votes from both President Joe Biden and ex-president Donald Trump, but Kennedy currently has only qualified to be on the ballot in three states, Utah, Michigan and Hawaii, the newspaper reported.
But The Washington Post on Thursday reported The American Independent Party of California, which has a history of “far-right ties,” and “backed segregationist and former Alabama governor George Wallace in 1968, nominated Kennedy for president.”
Kennedy “said this week that he has qualified to be on the ballot in California and will accept the nomination of the American Independent Party, which has a history of associating itself with far-right figures and individuals who have expressed racist views.”
Some news reports and RFK Jr. himself say the Trump campaign was actively courting Kennedy, attempting to convince him to consider being the ex-president’s 2024 vice presidential running mate.
“That MAGA dalliance with Kennedy could be coming back to bite the Trump campaign, some Republicans close to the former president worry,” The Daily Beast also reported.
“’They can only blame themselves,’ a Trump-aligned strategist told The Daily Beast, requesting anonymity to speak candidly about private conversations about the risk Kennedy poses, ‘because they cozied up to him and thought it was funny.’”
Watch WIVBTV’s report on Kennedy’s trip to New York below or at this link.
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Congressman Pummeled for Praising Students Mocking Black Protester With Monkey Sounds
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