The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) canceled Thursday night’s Millennium Park at Home Music Series following the exit of one performer who refused to remove a portion of his pre-recorded video segment in which he was critical of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
In a Twitter statement Thursday, singer Sen Morimoto wrote: “My performance has been pulled from the lineup because of a statement I made in the video concerning Mayor Lightfoot’s response to the protests currently happening in Chicago. I was asked to remove the statement, otherwise the video would be pulled and I was not comfortable censoring my criticism of the mayor at the request of the City of Chicago.”
Thursday night, Millennium Park announced the news of the cancellation via Twitter: “Tonight’s Millennium Park at Home Music Series concert will not be premiering.”
Soon after, DCASE, which is in the midst of its 2020 “Year of Chicago Music” virtual concerts, began to receive social media bashing from local artists and activists decrying the action taken.
Morimoto, who was compensated despite the event’s cancellation, plans to donate his earnings to Brave Space Alliance, a Black-led, Trans-led LGBTQ Center, according to an Instagram post.
In an interview Friday with another Chicago media outlet, Morimoto clarified that “he didn’t specifically ask for his performance to be removed,” which didn’t jibe with the statement released by DCASE.
In its statement, DCASE explained its handling of the matter: “Mayor Lightfoot and DCASE honor artistic freedom and uphold free speech. The ‘Millennium Park at Home’ virtual concert series was created as a platform to showcase local music, support musicians, and engage audiences at this difficult time. It is not intended to provide a platform for public discourse and debate, which is why DCASE requested the personal viewpoints of one of our participating artists, Sen Morimoto, be removed from a pre-recorded introduction to the concert.
“Both of our featured artists, including Tasha, instead asked us to remove their entire music performance, which we of course accommodated. Both artists were paid per our agreements. Since April, DCASE has booked more than 65 local musicians for its new, reimagined events — and has of course supported local artist relief.”
Morimoto did not respond to requests for comment from the Sun-Times.
In a show of solidarity with Morimoto, singer Tasha requested her set be removed from the lineup after she viewed his social media accounts discussing his departure.
Tasha, who confirmed that she also was compensated by DCASE despite the event cancellation, says what happened to Morimoto boils down to censorship.
“I realized that it wasn’t enough for me to just say that but I supported [Morimoto] and that the right thing to do as far as putting my actions behind my words would be to ask them to pull my set as well,” said Tasha, “I really wanted to let DCASE know that what they did was absolutely inappropriate and wrong. It was a complete like suppression and censorship of artists.”
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July 26, 2020 at 04:03AM
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Artists call musician’s removal from event ‘complete suppression.’ - Chicago Sun-Times
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