Stanford band mocks Christians during BYU halftime show.

[smac97]

Huh.  This happened on 11/26, but I did not see a story about it until today: Stanford band mocks Christians during halftime show

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At Saturday’s Brigham Young University (BYU) and Stanford University's (Stanford) football game in California, Stanford’s band mocked BYU students’ Christain faith during its halftime show performance. 

The halftime skit was called “gay chicken,” as reported by Jackson Payne, of the Daily Universe, the official BYU newspaper. 

Featuring a mock wedding ceremony of two women, the skit mocked the words of the marriage ceremony of  the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which marries a man and woman “for time and all eternity.”  

The staged wedding  concluded with the mock marriage officiant quoting Genesis 1:28, telling  the women to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.”

 

The band put the skit on despite the fact that members of its own football team are members of the Church. 

Tanner McKee, Stanford's quarterback, and other players including Levani Damuni and Spencer Jorgensen have served religious missions for the Church. 

Damuni was reported as saying, “I’m assuming it was the Stanford band. They’re a militia of students who don’t represent what Stanford is about. I love Stanford.”

This is a pretty good attitude to take.  But the "militia of students" must have involved Stanford's faculty, employees, etc.

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A BYU student at the game, Lauren Palmer, when contacted by Campus Reform, corroborated the details of the skit saying, “They put on a ceremony and then kissed the bride(s). As they did so, one woman took the microphone and said something along the lines of, if you think I’m gay, well I am.”  

Thomas Olsen, a reporter at the Cougar Chronicle, who covered the story told Campus Reform, “When I first heard about it, I was disappointed but not surprised.” He added that “Mocking religions as halftime entertainment is wrong, but it seems less people care because it’s BYU.” 

Yes, there does seem to be a "It's not wrong when the Mormons are in the crosshairs" element to this.

As the blog where I first saw the above article put it: "NOW DO ISLAM: Stanford band mocks Christians during BYU halftime show."

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A statement from Stanford issued the same report saying “The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB) has a long history of lighthearted and satirical halftime performances. Unfortunately, some of the language that was used in Saturday’s halftime show did not reflect Stanford University’s values of religious freedom and diversity, inclusion and belonging.” 

The statement continued saying “The LSJUMB deeply regrets that this performance caused offense to spectators, and the halftime performance review and approval process is being adjusted {to ensure that issues like this do not occur again}."

Well, that's something.

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This comes just after a statement of religious bigotry was put out regarding notes placed on a Dia de los Muertos Altar at Stanford’s campus. The notes read, “This is pure idolatry” and after that was taken off, another one was placed that said “Still idolatry ok.” 

In response, Stanford’s statement reads, “Residential student leaders noticed the notes, documented, and then removed them. This is especially harmful as it was done during Dia de los Muertos, a cultural-religious tradition for many Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and other Latiné communities. Furthermore, any form of religious bias that shows intolerance to certain rituals and practices of others is unacceptable.”

"Intolerance to certain rituals and practices of others is unacceptable..."

Also, "Latiné"?

From KSL: Stanford Expresses Regret For Band Performance During BYU Game

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PROVO, Utah – During halftime of the Stanford-BYU football game on November 26, the Stanford Band used controversial phrases during a performance.

The Stanford Band, historically known for pushing the envelope with its performances, had a skit during the BYU game called “gay chicken.” During the performance, three women acted out a wedding ceremony with the “wedding official” using common terms used for temple marriages in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

 

BYU is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the two women were married, the acting wedding official said, “for time and all eternity.” Along with “may you be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.”

KSL Sports was on location at Stanford Stadium and saw the performance live. At the conclusion of the sketch, the crowd of 25,094, many of which were BYU fans, produced a smattering of boos as the Stanford Band left the field.

Stanford expresses regret for band performance

KSL Sports received a statement from a Stanford Athletic Department spokesperson. The same statement was given to BYU’s student newspaper, The Daily Universe. In which they expressed regret for the terms the band used in the performance.
...

Stanford Band caused controversy in BYU’s other visit to Palo Alto

Saturday’s visit to Stanford was only BYU football’s second visit all-time to Palo Alto. The other visit was in 2004. The Stanford Band also caused controversy during that game by staging a halftime performance centered around polygamy.

The next scheduled football game between BYU and Stanford is in 2031 when the Cardinal travel to Provo.

 

Stanford Daily: Stanford Band apologizes for BYU skit, “forever stands against homophobia”

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The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB) apologized on Monday for a skit during the halftime of the Nov. 26 football game against Brigham Young University (BYU) which depicted a lesbian wedding.

The skit, called “gay chicken,” depicted two women getting married “for time and all eternity” and then being told to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” The same phrases are used during the marriage sealing ceremonies within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the sponsor of BYU.

Members of band student leadership wrote that they issued the apology following “Acts of Intolerance complaints filed to the University” for using “phrases from scripture held sacred by the LDS community,” in a statement to The Daily.

The Band leadership wrote that they were “unaware that specific phrases used in the show are a part of the Sealing ceremony sacred to the LDS community,” and “deeply regret the impact this action had.”

"They were 'unaware.'"

Uh-huh.

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However, the Band’s student leadership said that they do not regret the Band’s choice of skit topic and “will forever stand against homophobia.”

“We are appalled by the homophobic responses to our show, and we will continue to call out bigotry and provide a safe space for queer people and allies,” they wrote.

Not sure what "homophobic responses" they are referencing here.

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“I don’t know what the fuss is about,” said Buddy Noorlander ’24, who has been an active member of the Church for his whole life and is a member of Stanford’s Latter-day Saints Student Association (LDSSA). “The gripes about the halftime show from a few members seem to run contrary to how even the church itself responds to things like this.”

Noorlander said that the Latter-day Saints community at Stanford is generally more “open-minded” and accepting of LGBT rights than the more conservative institution of the Church. Still, he said that the Church’s stance is usually “to not take offense at things like this,” bringing up that they famously bought ads in the playbill of the satirical musical “The Book of Mormon.”

Third-year Ph.D. student in political science Sierra Davis Thomander, who is also an active member of the Church and who received her bachelor’s degree from BYU, said she was at Saturday’s game with her husband. While she said she “knew what they were trying to do,” it didn’t strike her as “that bad.”

Thomander brought up that the Church had expressed support as an institution for the Respect for Marriage Act and speculated that the more sensitive part of the joke was regarding the sealing practices.

“If anyone did this to certain religious groups, there would have been a lot less support for it,” Thomander said. “If you believe in the principle of don’t make fun of people’s religions, maybe you just don’t.”

Jake Griffin ’25, a partially active member of the Church, said that while he also did not feel personally offended by the skit, he felt as though the idea of making fun of another religion’s practices didn’t represent Stanford ideals of unity and inclusion.

“Isolating LDS individuals and laughing at them for their beliefs is an ineffective method of change and destroys any mutual respect I would hope to see between religious and non-religious students,” Griffin said.

Fair thoughts, these.

Sports Illustrated: Stanford Band Apologizes for Offensive Halftime Skit vs. BYU

BYU's Daily Universe: Stanford band stages controversial halftime skit during football game against BYU

Deseret News: Stanford Athletics says it ‘deeply regrets’ offense caused by band’s halftime show (also at MSN)

Thanks,

-Smac

[Calm]

https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/74959-byu-v-stanford-halftime

Edited December 5, 2022 by Calm

[Calm]

The band was banned from Notre Dame for much the same thing.  This kind of bigotry will likely continue if no fuss is made, if there are no consequences. If that is okay with most people, then just ignore it.  If we want to protect other faiths along with our own, perhaps we should be more vocal that tolerance doesn’t truly function like a one way street.

https://news.stanford.edu/news/1997/october15/irish.html

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The Stanford Band has been prohibited from performing at football games against the University of Notre Dame until 2000 in the wake of shows at an Oct. 4 intercollegiate match that have been blasted as racist and insulting.

Irish and Catholic groups criticized the maverick band's pre-game and half-time performances, which included a parody of the Irish potato famine and a band member dressed as a Catholic cardinal.

President Gerhard Casper offered Stanford's apologies to Notre Dame. Athletic Director Ted Leland said in a statement issued Oct. 6: "I apologize for the tasteless performance by the Stanford Band at last Saturday's football game with Notre Dame. In their sophomoric attempt at humor, the band crossed the line from funny to obnoxious and offensive."

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Calm

[sunstoned]

I think they need to apologize to BYU and the Mormon community for this.  It is not funny to mock someone's religion. 

[Arthur Vandelay]

2 hours ago, smac97 said:

"They were 'unaware.'"

Uh-huh.

Why would band members be familiar with the sealing ceremony?  They took those phrases from Genesis.

[Rain]

6 hours ago, Arthur Vandelay said:

Why would band members be familiar with the sealing ceremony?  They took those phrases from Genesis.

Is it common to have those phrases in weddings, especially gay weddings? If it is then I agree with you.  If it is pretty much just temple weddings that is different. I just am unfamiliar with how common it is.

Edited December 5, 2022 by Rain

[Calm]

6 hours ago, Arthur Vandelay said:

Why would band members be familiar with the sealing ceremony?  They took those phrases from Genesis.

Easy enough to find online unfortunately 

[Saint Bonaventure]

Ban the Stanford Band from your stadium and arena at BYU. You can be kind, gracious, and good humored and not have to endure this kind of thing from your guests. The Stanford Band are not comedians, and they don't have a spirit of "laugh with" instead of "laugh at." They thought they were witty, or snarky, or whatever when they made a joke of the Irish Potato Famine at Notre Dame Stadium.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has put folks on their map for less than what the Stanford Band does.

Two cents.

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Saint Bonaventure

[ttribe]

That was in pretty poor taste. At some point everyone needs to stop being such a**holes to one another.

[Stormin' Mormon]

10 hours ago, Arthur Vandelay said:

Why would band members be familiar with the sealing ceremony?  They took those phrases from Genesis.

I think the part they took from the LDS sealing ceremony was "for time and all eternity."  

[Amulek]

This isn't the first time the Stanford "band" has done something like this. As others have pointed out, they've mocked the Catholic church on more than one occasion. They've mocked Orthodox Jews as well.

And this isn't even the first time they've targeted the church - having performed a polygamy skit back in 2004.

Their basic "M.O." is to do pretty much whatever they want, apologize on occasion, maybe get banned, and then repeat.

Personally, my problem with Stanford's so-called band isn't their thinly veiled bigotry dressed up as (bad) satire. No, my main problem with them is that, musically, they just stink.

Bad.

Maybe if they would practice more than one day a week, try to keep their pants up, and actually focus on performing music instead of spending time on these crummy skits, maybe they would eventually be able to string together a half-time performance that people actually enjoy for the music...you know, sort of like what real bands do.

 

[Teancum]

This was bad taste, poor form and simply wrong.

[Damien the Leper]

Classless troglodytes.

[Buckeye]

7 hours ago, Amulek said:

This isn't the first time the Stanford "band" has done something like this. As others have pointed out, they've mocked the Catholic church on more than one occasion. They've mocked Orthodox Jews as well.

And this isn't even the first time they've targeted the church - having performed a polygamy skit back in 2004.

Their basic "M.O." is to do pretty much whatever they want, apologize on occasion, maybe get banned, and then repeat.

Personally, my problem with Stanford's so-called band isn't their thinly veiled bigotry dressed up as (bad) satire. No, my main problem with them is that, musically, they just stink.

Bad.

Maybe if they would practice more than one day a week, try to keep their pants up, and actually focus on performing music instead of spending time on these crummy skits, maybe they would eventually be able to string together a half-time performance that people actually enjoy for the music...you know, sort of like what real bands do.

 

As someone who has seen THE Ohio State Marching Band in person, I can say most bands are meh, but Stanford’s takes meh to another level. 

[The Nehor]

4 hours ago, Damien the Leper said:

Classless troglodytes.

In the later versions of Dungeons & Dragons troglodytes can gain class levels.

These troglodytes just sound lazy.

[The Nehor]

52 minutes ago, Buckeye said:

As someone who has seen THE Ohio State Marching Band in person, I can say most bands are meh, but Stanford’s takes meh to another level. 

If you are going to be bad at least be entertaining about it:

The tortured cat is a popular instrument in Egypt. Don’t judge.

[Damien the Leper]

16 hours ago, The Nehor said:

In the later versions of Dungeons & Dragons troglodytes can gain class levels.

These troglodytes just sound lazy.

I agree. The creativity was highly lacking. A joke in much better taste could have been a better performance. Instead of using temple wording they could have made a joke about getting engaged after a week or even 2 5/8 days of dating. I think LDS could have gotten behind that one. Having attended an Institute almost 20 years ago...that place is a meat market and a quick dating and engagement factory. A former SP once told me he thought, jokingly I think but not certain (see what I did there @Ambrosia), that it was more hormones than anything else that drove the process much more quickly.

[mfbukowski]

On 12/5/2022 at 3:29 AM, Calm said:

Easy enough to find online unfortunately 

Oh goodie! I have to look it up now!

[mfbukowski]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:37 AM, Teancum said:

This was bad taste, poor form and simply wrong.

Yay! I get to give you a rep point!

[Damien the Leper]

1 hour ago, Ambrosia said:

Yes, I see that.  You expressed that you were uncertain about something.  I earlier asked you if you are certain that certainly leads to arrogance, as you stated it did.  I am certain that it never does, as I explained earlier.

I also called out the silliness of presuppositional apologetics and the common tactic of circular certainty.

[Teancum]

3 hours ago, mfbukowski said:

Yay! I get to give you a rep point!

Every once in a while......😁

[Scott Lloyd]

On 12/5/2022 at 4:14 PM, Buckeye said:

As someone who has seen THE Ohio State Marching Band in person, I can say most bands are meh, but Stanford’s takes meh to another level. 

A clever use of paradox. As much as to say the band is unprecedented in its mediocrity. 

[california boy]

For those who found this half-time performance distasteful and disrespectful, I hope you will keep that in mind next time you want to compare gay marriages to beastuality and other degrading remarks such as passing them off as not real weddings.  

 

[The Nehor]

5 hours ago, california boy said:

For those who found this half-time performance distasteful and disrespectful, I hope you will keep that in mind next time you want to compare gay marriages to beastuality and other degrading remarks such as passing them off as not real weddings.  

 

That is not fair. They don’t always use bestiality. Sometimes they use pedophilia.