VIDEO – Invited by the Padres to Perform, San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus Embarrassed Instead
The Padres invited the San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus to sing the national anthem at Petco Park Saturday night, but as the group stood on the field about the perform, fans heard a taped recording of a woman singing instead. Now SD Gay Men’s Chorus is crying foul, alleging “homophobia within the San Diego Padres organization,” and demanding an investigation.
“No attempt was made to stop the recording and start over,” the SD Gay Men’s Chorus says on Facebook. “No announcement of apology was made to the singers or their friends and families in the stands. No attempt to correct the situation occurred other than to force the 100 men to stand in the spotlight of center field for the song’s duration and then be escorted off the field to the heckles of baseball fans shouting homophobic taunts including ‘You sing like a girl.'”
The Padres have issue a short, two-sentence apology, insisting “a mistake was made in the Petco Park control room.” They “apologize” to “anyone who may be offended.”
That may not be enough.
Outrage built throughout the day Sunday, after the Gay Men’s Chorus say the humiliating “incident followed several days of troubling comments and behavior within the San Diego Padres organization.”
“Three days before the game, San Diego Padres representatives aggressively sought to prevent singers from performing the National Anthem unless they purchased a ticket to the game—even if they did not plan to stay for the game—which was not part of any previous discussion or written or verbal agreement and would have cost the small, community-based non-profit thousands of dollars,” the Gay Men’s Chorus said on Facebook. “The demand eventually was rescinded on Friday following repeated complaints made by SDGMC and San Diego Pride to San Diego Padres management.”
And they’re demanding “the City of San Diego City Attorney’s Office and the City of San Diego Human Relations Commission to independently investigate this incident to determine if members of the San Diego Padres organization engaged in activity in violation of the San Diego Human Rights Ordinance or engaged in any deliberate hate crimes based on sexual orientation.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune is reporting the national anthem “is not always performed live, and this was an instance where a taped version was to be played with the performers on the field.” If that’s true, it would be news to the Gay Men’s Chorus, who were prepared to sing, not just stand on the field.
“I really want to believe that it was an error,” Bob Lehman, executive director of the Gay Men’s Chorus, told the Union-Tribune. “But the first thought was, did they do this on purpose?”
Watch:
On Twitter, many weighed in, with one LGBT activist wondering why no national LGBT org has come to the group’s aid:
After that tweet was posted, Outsports’ Jim Buzinski noted that the Padres CEO needs “to make this right. At a minimum, the chorus needs to be invited back ASAP and given royal treatment. And a donation to the chorus or the  charity of its choice would be in order. And if this was anything but a colossal screw-up by the control room, someone should be fired.”
Buzinski adds that “Billy Bean, who is gay and Major League Baseball’s ambassador for inclusion, played for the Padres and released this statement”:
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Video and screenshot via Dan England/Facebook