The University has been abuzz the past two weeks after it wasannounced that rap artist Chingy would no longer be performing atthis year’s Homecoming concert.
Chingy’s removal from the Homecoming concert’s line-up is theresult of an e-mail sent to University administrators by theHomecoming committee’s concert coordinator, expressing concernabout Chingy’s vulgarity. The Homecoming Committee decided to pullChingy after the onslaught of controversy.
The Homecoming Committee is a group of students who plan theHomecoming events every year. It is part of the Union ProgramCouncil, made up of an adviser, four chairs, 15 coordinators andother committee members. The coordinators oversee specific eventsthat happen during Homecoming week, and the committee members helpwith activities.
Kristen Hode, assistant chair of marketing of the HomecomingCommittee, said last spring, the committee selected newcoordinators, which included the concert coordinator, whoseresponsibility it is to lead the effort of finding acts anddiscussions in meetings about the concert. Hode said everyone onthe committee was able to suggest ideas.
Hode said the Homecoming Committee worked with Music and Mayhem,another UPC committee, “to gain more student input” about theconcert’s potential acts.
Hode said last spring, the Homecoming Committee and Music andMayhem began to narrow down ideas for the Homecoming concert act.The committees broke for the summer, and through e-mails, the twocommittees chose the top 10 potential acts for the concert.
Jenna Plaisance, then-Homecoming concert coordinator, has adifferent view of how the acts were chosen. Plaisance said she metwith Emilia Gilbert, adviser to the Homecoming Committee, in thebeginning of August. She said they discussed the 200 possible actsrepresented by the William Morris Agency, an agency that representsclients in all entertainment industries and Chingy’s managementagency. Plaisance said she and Gilbert ranked the acts bypreference based on feedback from the agency.
Plaisance said Gilbert spoke with the agency to find out whichof the 200 acts were inappropriate, questionable or unreliable.Chingy was on this list. She said the agency told Gilbert Chingywould not be appropriate for a PG-13 show. All campus concerts mustmeet PG-13 standards.
Plaisance said Gilbert sent an e-mail to the committee members,which contained the narrowed version of the list of acts. She saidGilbert was supposed to eliminate all acts the agency deemedinappropriate for the University’s standards.
Plaisance said after meeting with Gilbert and narrowing down thelist by eliminating the inappropriate acts, Gilbert sent out ane-mail of the updated list to vote on to all the committee members.Chingy was still included in the updated list.
“I assumed she would eliminate Chingy. She is our adviser. Ibelieved her. I had no reason not to,” Plaisance said.
After getting the e-mail, Plaisance said she e-mailed Gilbertwith her concerns. Plaisance said she told Gilbert she felt thecommittee wanted Live, which was another top choice, more thanChingy.
“Emilia knew we wanted Live, but she bid Chingy anyway,”Plaisance said.
Hode said Gilbert decided to give the first bid to Chingybecause he would take longer to get. Gilbert dealt with the agencybecause she was the adviser, and she understands contracts betterthan the committee members do. Then the committee waited to see ifChingy was available and would agree to come to the University.
Hode said once Chingy accepted, nothing happened from there. Theact was chosen and the committee went on to plan other aspects ofHomecoming week. Or that is what she thought.
Plaisance said a series of e-mails were sent after Chingy’sacceptance between her and Gilbert, which heightened Plaisance’sconcerns about Chingy. Plaisance said she decided to meet withGilbert and JoAnn Doolos, associate director of union programs andGilbert’s boss, to further express her concerns.
At the meeting, Plaisance said she brought a copy of Chingy’slyrics to the meeting and told Gilbert and Doolos she thoughtChingy was “not a wise decision.”
Plaisance said after reading the lyrics, she felt even if Chingychanged his lyrics, there was no way he could change the meaning ofhis songs. She said Chingy’s lyrics and song meanings are vulgarand offensive.
“What would happen if the chancellor showed up at the concert,”Plaisance said. “I did not want my name and the committee’s nameattached to this concert.”
Plaisance said both Doolos and Gilbert implied that the decisionto have Chingy play at the Homecoming concert was final. She saidthey gave no answer to her concerns. She said Doolos did notunderstand how the committee had scheduled Chingy. Plaisance saidit seemed unlikely either would take action about Chingy’sinappropriateness.
Plaisance said they told her they would speak to Chingy’s agencyto ensure a PG-13 show. She said she did not think it was writteninto the contract.
“I do not understand how Chingy slipped onto the list,”Plaisance said. “He was supposed to be on the inappropriate listsince August.”
Plaisance said Gilbert told her she did not know anything aboutChingy. But Plaisance said it is her job to investigate.
After speaking to Doolos and Gilbert with no solution, Plaisancesaid she decided to send an e-mail to University administrators “tolet them know what they are spending their money on.” She said shedid not think committee members could revoke what the adviser andher boss wanted.
Hode said Plaisance said nothing about her concerns at meetings.Hode said the committee was very open and everyone had a fairchance to talk.
“If she knew he was offensive, why didn’t she bring it up at themeetings,” Hode said.
Plaisance said she was highly involved with the process ofchoosing an act for the homecoming concert. She said she helpednarrow down the list of potential acts and expressed her concernsabout Chingy on numerous occasions.
But no one on the Homecoming committee knew about the e-mailsent to administration by Plaisance. “The e-mail trickled down tous. It was not sent to us directly from the chancellor,” Hodesaid.
The committee responded to the e-mail and sent it to theadministration Plaisance sent it to, Hode said. “We told officialsChingy agreed to perform a PG-13 show.” Hode said he is on theradio, therefore his lyrics can be censored. Hode said thecommittee never spoke personally to administration.
“It [the e-mail] hurt us because she did not address herconcerns with us, and the chain of command was broken,” Hodesaid.
Plaisance said she was unaware the committee responded to theadministration concerning her e-mail.
Hode said the administration did not tell the committee to pullChingy from the concert, but administration expressed theirconcerns.
After the e-mail was sent and the committee responded, “Wedecided to move on and choose another act because we had many otherthings to plan for the homecoming week. We decided to try somethingdifferent because this was obviously not the best choice.”
Hode said Plaisance has not been to any meetings since thee-mail was sent, but she had missed meetings before.
“The e-mail created a ripple effect and affected more peoplethan it needed to,” Hode said. “Everything happened so quickly, wedid not even have time to tell many people Chingy was the act.”