Singer Michelle Shocked sits in at canceled show

[WilliamPitt]

Source: Associated Press

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — Face covered and mouth taped shut, alternative folk and rock singer Michelle Shocked staged a sit in outside a Santa Cruz nightclub that canceled her show because she made an anti-gay slur at a San Francisco club earlier this month.

The tape across her mouth said ‘‘Silenced By Fear.’’ When asked a question, Shocked shook her head vigorously and strummed her guitar while seated on the ground outside popular music venue Moe’s Alley. She pointed to a sign inviting people to pick up a Sharpie marker and write on the white disposable safety suit she was wearing.

Earlier in the day, she had tweeted her plans: ‘‘Moe’s in S Cruz tonight ok? Its an art project ‘My Summer Vacation’ I want your autograph. Bring Sharpie.’’

Moe’s Alley owner Bill Welch, who talked with Shocked as she strummed her guitar outside his club, had replaced her with bands Beaver Fever and Frootie Flavors.


Read more: http://www.boston.com/ae/celebrity/2013/03/28/singer-michelle-shocked-sits-canceled-show/xGO9VPRHTChRXvzn7LkiBL/story.html

[ForgoTheConsequence]

1. How are people still this stupid?

Reading the comments in that article about "free speech" I just want to bang my head against the wall.

You're free to say whatever the hell you want, want to bash gays? go ahead. But you're not free from the consequences of your bigotry. If I choose to boycott you because you said something shitty I'm not violating your "free speech".

[Trajan]

3. Her right to free speech is intact

Some people abuse the rights they have ... not unusual ...

The only thing she needs to fear is her own ignorance.

[Roland99]

4. Exactamundo! Anyone remember the right-wing backlash against the Dixie Chicks?

[CincyDem]

29. "Free Speech" not the same as "Freedom from Consequences of Free Speech".

Perfect point.

One is a constitutional guarantee. The other is a desire to not be accountable for whatever we choose to spew out (good or bad) into the world.

[complain jane]

38. I couldn't agree more.

[savalez]

43. Spot on! n/t

[Wernothelpless]

62. Preeeecisely ....

I'd venture a guess that Michele has just successfully torpedoed her career ... once upon a time she was featured regularly on kpig.com .... probably won't be hearing much of her music on the pig again .... consequences .... hey, she still has fox snooze ...

[WeekendWarrior]

67. Well, strictly speaking

free speech is about speech free from government interference or penalty.

If a private organization wants to shut you down, they have a right to. So this club wasn't violating anyone's free speech.

She's apparently been brainwashed by her cult and she's acting like a moron.

[Politicub]

2. Let's hope she leaves the tape in place

and does us all a great big favor.

[nolabear]

5. She's the one who went off, and she's the one who put the tape there. Liberty in action.

It's like watching someone punch themselves in the face and scream "Stop hitting me!"

[Politicub]

15. LOL - exactly!

Which describes most tea baggers, too.

[Flashmann]

13. Let's hope she leaves the tape in place and does us all a great big favor

[In_The_Wind]

6. She has the right to continue to prove that she is truly an asshole.

[madaboutharry]

7. +1

[TwilightGardener]

8. Whatever, weirdo.

[Evasporque]

9. I would of wrote on her...

"Hi I am a hater and this is what haters get for hating."

[WinkyDink]

21. "would of wrote"?

[UnrepentantLiberal]

53. That was helpful, grammar cop.

[randome]

69. Resist the urge! It's hard for me, too!

[Faygo Kid]

10. She should have taped her mouth shut before she spewed her hate

Her career is over, and she still doesn't get it.

[radhika]

11. Free Speech refers to government actions...

No government has done a thing in this matter.

People don't want to do business with her due to her beliefs.

[RevStPatrick]

12. This is just frikkin' sad.

I think her brain is broken...

[valerief]

14. Free speech only applies to dollars, as SCOTUS has ruled. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

49. No.

[Ash_F]

16. I hope everyone here realizes she is in the closet.

They do this sometimes when struggling with it. I feel bad for her.

[otohara]

58. In & Out & In Again

I always thought she was gay - and she did have one gal friend.

Then Jesus saved her and killed her career.

[Wait Wut]

17. 'Silenced by Fear'???

WTF? What fear? Her own fear of teh gay? Idiot. With all of the people in this world that are TRULY 'silenced by fear' I find her selfish act offensive. She has access to a public stage and used it for hate. Fuck her.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

42. LOL....I know

I'd like to know her point behind the slogan, other than it's a fucking cliche of some sort, but I get the feeling it would be another rambling bunch of bullshit.

[SemperEadem]

18. girl, you were silenced by not only your own fear

but your own brazen, breathtaking stupidity.

funny thing about that first amendment: 1st: it applies only to the government, and the government hasn't weighed in on your stupidity or twarted you from expressing it. Society isn't held to that same standard, however.

2nd: you are neither constitutionally nor societally guaranteed dissemination of your speech. If you say something as stupid as you did, you are not guaranteed a platform, stage or percentages of a door of an establishment that does not want you playing there.

3rd: busking is about all you're good for now. Just remember--you did this to yourself. No one did anything to you. Before you opened up your big fat mouth and showed everyone what you were about, you had an audience. The person to blame is staring right back at you in the mirror, sister.

[Javaman]

19. Meh, this is part of her new, "trying to be relevant" tour.

she fucked up, won't own up to it and now conflates it into a rights issue.

drama, isn't not for breakfast anymore.

[Little Star]

26. Bingo

[Orsino]

20. Her Constitutional right to paying gigs has been abridged. n/t

[olddots]

22. I think something broke inside her

She should see someone who can help her fix it before going out and being weird .

[Hissyspit]

23. Yes, it's sad.

[Hekate]

28. It really did sound like some kind of mental crack-up

Without defending for a minute what she said, I'm more troubled for her sake than anything else. The people she attacked and slurred have all united (which is excellent) but something else is going wrong here.

[B Stieg]

24. The Michael Richards PR method...

...once the province of Spears and Lohan (always), now is passed to Bynes and Shocked. These celebs must find a better way of staying relevant.

[DollarBillHines]

25. "Beaver Fever and Frootie Flavors"

Ya gotta love that

[LiberalLovinLug]

27. this time your avatar really does fit with your OP Will

The audio of her rant is up on YouTube if anyone would care to listen:

It was interesting to hear some of the audience talking back.
I was particularly appalled when after saying that everyone should go on Twitter and write Michelle Shocked says God hates fags and other slurs, she then said "this is fun".

She is a huge case for the damage organized religion can do to someone.

[roguevalley]

37. she's stupid on her own. God loves everyone. she

missed that lesson. The idiot.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

55. So many people cheering her on.

What the fuck? "keep playing" "go on girl" worse than i thought.

[LiberalLovinLug]

78. Perhaps these fans

are the few that actually know her today, support her positions and attend church with her?

Some of them, at least in the beginning, you can tell think its some kind of joke at first and that's why they are cheering and laughing.

[Wernothelpless]

63. She is batshit crazy ....

She's done ... what a load of crap she spewed ... wow, she is so terrified of her own homosexuality that she is sabotaging her own career ... literally destroying herself in front of everyone ... some kind of twisted penance? ...

[Cha]

30. A little late with the tape,

Stupid Shock.

[Blandocyte]

31. Time to go country, Michelle!

Yee haw.

[johnp3907]

32. YAWN......

[Vogon_Glory]

33. Sorry, Michelle, BUT You Self-Destructed

Sorry, Michelle, but you self-destructed. Nobody forced you to trash the people who made up so much of your fan base. You did it yourself without coercion from anyone else.

You might as well face it. You lost your audience. You might have an afterlife in country music, but you'll have to get used to the dresses, the big hair, and the make-up. Otherwise it looks like giving guitar lessons and singing in the church choir are likely to be your major future venues.

[DeSwiss]

41. Not all country artists are homophobes.

- Some of them tell you to just follow your arrow wherever it points!

K&R

[Vogon_Glory]

71. Some Country Artists Might Be Enlightened, But...

Some Country artists might be enlightened, but it doesn't necessarily follow that their audiences (As a group) are going to be equally enlightened. Either way, I think Michelle Shocked has run off her old audience, and if she expects to have a major gig with a paying audience again, she'll need a new target audience that's more homophobe-friendly.

As I said earlier, she did it to herself.

[Loryn]

34. Sad

I think she is having a mental health issue.

[Rowdyboy]

35. By next year she'll be headlining at CPAC and on the board of directors of NOM.....

while guest hosting on Fox. Way to go, Michelle

[47of74]

74. No kidding.

[Pryderi]

36. She's the Victoria Jackson of music. n/t

[bluesbassman]

39. Ouch!

[DeSwiss]

40. ''Silenced by my own FEAR.''

- Fixed.

K&R

[TeamPooka]

44. "You people are intolerant of my bigotry"

[Lithos]

45. Sniff

The injury she incurred is real, time to call out the Wahhhhmbulance

L-

[azureblue]

46. I still think

her bizarre outburst and current behavior is due to anti depressant mis medication. From seeing another person's normally cheerful behavior get really crazy, due to over medication, I suspect this is what's happening with her. And her history seems to bear this out.

[Stewland]

47. My Gaydar always goes off on her

She gives off a real strong gay vibe. Anchored in Anchorage is a example of her strong lesbian vibe. She seems to have gotten herself into a fundamentalist church that seems to think gays are unworthy. I know of many gays who choose to hate themselves. I hope she finds her way back to self respect.

[freshwest]

48. ...

[tblue]

56. ^^^LOOK HERE! ^^^ A PIC!

Very odd and and kinda creepy. I'd give her a wide berth.

[TeeYiYi]

60. Made me laugh...

re: "I'd give her a wide berth."

I used to like her. Now I just feel embarrassed for her.

TYY

[Wernothelpless]

64. She is a 72 hour hold ...

waiting to happen ... I hope somebody helps her before she hurts herself ... she is losing it ...

[maindawg]

50. wingnut evangelicals musta brainwashed her

these people never rest. They got to the kid from 2 and a half men but when the he was better informed about the money it would cost him, he turned down the volume. I can tell you , that I was harassed vehemently when I was a young man. I learned the way to scare them off was a puff of pot smoke and they never came back !

[Vinnie From Indy]

51. Ironically, Shocked brought a RAINBOW of colored Sharpies

for folks to use on her suit.

Cheers!

[Buzz Clik]

52. Poor baby. Doesn't want to face the consequences for her actions.

Her 15 minutes of fame will be over real soon.

More duct tape, please.

[Duval]

54. Oh fer Pete's sake!n/t

[AndyA]

57. I. Hope. Her. Career. Is. OVER.

She had the right to say what she said, but she also must understand that people also have the right to not pay to hear her hateful comments, and that venues that would pay her to appear also have the right to cancel shows due to poor sales, or their right to not promote hate speech.

Wasn't really that familiar with her prior to her remarks, so I sure won't miss her when her career is thrown in the trash, which is where it belongs. And she chooses San Francisco to attack gays? There's a large gay population there, and most who live in that area do not agree with her. Most who live in the world don't agree with her.

[radhika]

59. Did anyone sign her safety suit?

Just curious how the crowd responded.

[dorksied]

61. I'd have written "BIGOT" in giant bold letters.

This woman is disgusting.

[merrily]

65. Seems confused.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Shocked

[thelordofhell]

66. ‘‘Silenced By HER Fear.’’

There....fixed it for her

[brett_jv]

68. What. An. Idiot.

Seriously, it's stupid no matter where you say these kinds of things, but to choose San Francisco to make your statements, and then Santa Cruz to make your little 'stand' ... HELLO? These are amongst the most liberal and gay-friendly cities in the entire world. If you just HAVE to make your feelings known in this way, next time you might wanna try it in the Bible Belt rather than the West Coast of California.

So what is she, one of these 'pray away teh gay' people now? Has she been cured of her lesbianism through the love of jeebus or some such nonsense? I mean, as I recall in the 90's, she seemed ... not particularly straight, so ... what exactly is her deal now?

[paulkienitz]

70. "Beaver Fever" -- now there's a name that inspires support of marriage equality

[olddots]

72. Bad Theater

[Shadowflash]

73. Who?

[Shampoobra]

77. About 25 years ago, college stations played one of her songs for a few weeks

The fallout from this recent bigoted outburst of hers is literally the most attention she's ever received from the media.

So my shorter answer to "who?" would be: "No one, really..."

[Warpy]

75. That tape should have said

"Silenced because people are sick of BIGOTS."

That might have been truth in advertising.

[catbyte]

76. Moran. The government didn't silence her. The free market did.

[Skittles]

79. pure guessing here but

I'm thinking this gal may have mental health issues beyond garden-variety hatred and bigotry

[Owl]

84. I most certainly agree with you

[shenmue]

80. She chose to say these things...

I hope she gets some help. If she is really struggling with mental health issues, as I heard she is, then I hope she meets a doctor who has some good sense. It's a shame if her faith comes not from love but from fear or self-disgust.

[Zambero]

81. Her career is not over

Shocked would always be welcome at Family Research Council events, singing and lecturing, as living proof that there is indeed a "cure".

[SylviaD]

82. I honestly always assumed Michelle was lesbian... n/t

[Arugula Latte]

83. How about "Lobotomized by Fundamentalism"