NE Portland theater cancels singer's show after anti-gay rant
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Alberta Rose Theatre has canceled the April show of folk singer Michelle Shocked after she went on an anti-gay rant Sunday night at a concert in San Francisco.
The April 25 concert at the Northeast Portland theater was intended to benefit human rights. Tickets were sold out.
Fans say Shocked -- a Texas-based artist who often signs about edgy and political topics -- went to the extreme. Several Bay area and national news outlets reported the singer said on stage in between songs: “When they stop Prop 8 and force priests at gunpoint to marry gays, it will be the downfall of civilization and Jesus will come back.”
After the show, the San Francisco concert venue tweeted: “We at Yoshi’s do not and will not ever tolerate the type of bigotry and hatred exhibited last night by Michelle Shocked. She will never be back.”
The backlash has had a ripple effect felt here in Portland, as Alberta Rose Theatre announced on Facebook on Monday that it was canceling the show.
The owner of Alberta Rose Theatre said he plans to still host a show, but it will benefit gay and lesbian equality and Shocked will not perform.
“Joe (Cawley), the owner here at Alberta Rose Theatre, said he’s already gotten calls from artists who want to support equality and fairness,” said Amy Ruiz, spokeswoman for Basic Rights Oregon. “He’s not sure yet who will be in the lineup, but he’s excited as we are to see how this is going to shape up.”
It’s not just the Alberta Rose that’s dropping Shocked from the ticket. The singer’s website says all her shows in March and April have been canceled, as well.
good for her! l like a woman who speaks her mind, and not caving to the liberal ways of thinking!
Ha ha ha! What a doofus.
We're all Shocked, Michelle.Â
(Is that a guy? Can't tell by the picture.)
Edward Scissorhands look alike.Â
A very very stupid woman.. Hope poverty is worth all your hatred and beliefs... good luck with that !
doug??  really? you call her stupid for her beliefs?  to bad you dont have any!
Niiiiiiiiiice.
Individuals who are so easily taken in are really what we can term "intellectually weak". As they really have no real identity of their own, they are easy prey for whatever idea or concept comes along. Undoubtedly, if she had been attending some muslim temple, she would have accepted that just as quickly as she accepted the Baptist preachings and their ideas. The minds of such individuals can be compared to empty buckets into which anyone can throw anything and, if it fills it, there is no room for anything else.Apparently she started going to Baptist churches for the music and got taken in by the faith.I had no idea she drank the kool-aid. Too bad.
@noneofyourbizzness  Everyone drinks Kool-Aid of one flavor or another.
Some just get a worse case of gas from it and can't help venting.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion(s)...... I remember skinhead concerts blasting racially charged music in Portland many years back.... Nobody complained then.... by the way I didn't attend the concert.
BTW, KATU staff: It's the "Bay Area" not Bay area. Â
You'd think people from Portland would know that.Â
@lakeview, dont you mean the "gay" area?
She's a perfect example of right wing ignorance. Â
First of all, nobody took away her free speech you nutjobs. You need to learn what free speech means before you say stupid stuff like "what? no tolerance for FREE SPEECH?" The concert was a private event. Free speech rights don't apply to private concerts, just like you have no free speech here on KATU.com.
Secondly, every single one of the bills that has legalized gay marriage has exempted any religious organization from performing gay marriages, period.
So go ahead and complain about free speech and some conspiracy to make priests wed gays. You look just as ignorant and foolish as this singer.Â
@lakeview  Â
There are ignorant people in both wings as well as the center.Â
Ignorance is not a respecter of political party or religion, gender, income level, degree of education or any other criteria.
@lakeview Voicing an opinion is right wing ignorance? I love your warped way of thinking, its free speech as long as you personally agree with it. You make me want to vote republican just to anger you.
@Jeepers @lakeviewÂ
Yeah, because teabaggers and their doppelgangers typically don't vote Republican. Â Who, exactly, do you think you're fooling? Â You do know you've left a slew of posts on this site that show you are clearly a wingnut, don't you?
@lakeview Free speech rights kept Lenny Bruce out of jail
I thought priests couldn't marry. But if the did get married, I would like them to chose the one they want to marry gay or strait. I have to admit I agree with what she is saying. You should never force anyone at gunpoint to marry someone, if they truly love someone it should be their choice to marry.  Is she saying Jesus is against guns? I bet Jesus is a good shot. So if Jesus did show up do you think people would be like great look who's here , its Jesus, oh hey Jesus, we were just leaving........I cant believe he just showed, who invited him..
Iâve been a Michelle Shocked fan for over 20 years. Iâm not going to trash my CDs, but Iâm very disappointed to hear about this. I strongly believe in free speech, but this was hate speech.
@Woverine She gave an opinion about the end of the world that was not popular with the party line, thus ostersized.. If the end of the world comment would of been about global warming she would be genius.
What, no tolerance for FREE SPEECH?
@wondering  Not at all. She spoke her mind.
But there's no law that demands that anyone has to abide the opinion of another. Well, except for advertisers. We HAVE to endure their messages because corporations are individuals and are MUCH more important than human citizens.
@wondering  You're failing to realize the fact that FREE SPEECH doesn't exempt you from public criticism. She's totally able to say what she pleases, but people are going to respond to that as they please as well. Venues are privately owned and are not obligated to host artists, so they have the right to cancel her show if they want to. It's really crass for a musician to get onstage and denigrate a minority, so I don't blame venues for not wanting her there. There are other reports that she told the audience they would have to "go home and tell everyone Michelle Shocked said God hates fa*****".
@sch  god dosent hate fags, he hates their sin!
@john Actually, based on observable data, it's one particular god's followers who seem to 'hate the fags'; the god himself seems to not be all too concerned with it - you know, that whole pesky free will thing and judgement day cometh.
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone...
@wondering where is anyone denying her free speech? Is she in jail? Was she arrested for saying what she said? No, therefore, her free speech was not infringed. The fact that you can say what ever you want does not mean you don't have to face people calling you an idiot or bigot or refusing to allow you to preform on their stage.
@Ramsesthegreat @wondering There's a way to put that, if you want to use it for future reference -- 'Freedom of Speech is not a guarantee of a captive audience'
@brendan @tally @Ramsesthegreat @wondering no
@tally @brendan @Ramsesthegreat @wondering Would  "Tanaris" & "<KTK>"mean anything to you?
@brendan @Ramsesthegreat @wondering It is in jail
I saw the INDIGO GIRLS on the Santa Monica Pier's Sommer Concert Series thingy in 2005.... LOVED THEM!
It might have been in 2006...we travel a lot...
No one can win against a BITTER ANGRY MAN-HATING LEZBO...NO ONE!
Boy she messed up now she is going to have to get used to playing the county fair circuit in the deep south. How does anyone being gay affect anyone on here in a negative way?
@old_dollor Only in the positive- I'm gay gotta love me
I'm okay with you being gay. Knock yourself out.
good for portland! i love that we (most of us anyway) stand on the side of right! portland is not the place fer her kind!
@setaglm Fer her kind? So you're being just as big of a bigot as Shocked is. Congratulations, hypocrite.
@therandomroger @setaglm Being intolerant of bigotry does not make you a bigot. Stop trolling the KATU forums.
@Jeepers @RajzÂ
No. Â Intolerance of prejudice IS tolerance. Â Weird how you teabaggers are always trying to redefine words or, more generally, make them devoid of all meaning entirely. Â Why do you do that?
@Rajz Actually by definition setaglm is a bigot. Sorry you didn't realize that words like that work both ways.
big·ot [big-uht] Show IPA noun a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion.
Hmmmm..."a Texas-based artist who often signs about edgy and political topics"...she's deaf?
Is there a clause in her contract that nullifies it, if you say something bad about the gay community?
This comment has been deleted
@Molly Head @tally What is this google thing, I keep hearing about?
Shocked said something shocking.
Meh. An idiot who used her extreme views in a place where it was not needed but probably thought it was a good publicity stunt. Guess, in a way, it is. People are talking about her who had never heard about her before. What she has forgotten is that SHE will be forgotten as quick as she was talked about, but leaving her with less of a fan base and a career. When will people learn that their "15 minutes of fame" usually only lasts for about 5 and tends to leave you worse than what you were before?
@Kymberlie2873 I would love to say I agree with you...........But Kim Kardashin is still around.
@Jeepers @Kymberlie2873 Yeah, but Kim Kardashan is more like a ring worm, or impetigo, or an std.
I'm gay-gotta love me. The gay agenda. Time to storm that cupcake place.
@tally Business is booming too, better get there early!
I am fairly certain that priests/pastors/holy people in general are not obligated to marry a straight couple, they can say no if they want to for any reason, if they don't feel those people should be married. So I can't imagine that should gay marriage be legal they would be forced "at gunpoint" to marry them. They would have the same rights to refuse to marry someone as they always have had. Now whether a Justice of the Peace would have that right, I don't know.Â