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Banned in Boston? Emerson trying to cancel the Jeff Flake chat at the Colonial Theatre
By adamg on Fri, 09/28/2018 - 5:53pm
UPDATE: Emerson reports the event has been moved to "a more secure location," but doesn't say where. The Globe says maybe City Hall Plaza.
Emerson College, which owns the Colonial Theatre, says it plans to exercise its landlord's prerogative to have Monday's talk by Sen. Jeff Flake and Ohio Governor John Kasich canceled or moved somewhere off college property. In a letter to the college, Emerson President Lee Pelton writes this afternoon:
The College just found out about Senator Jeff Flake’s appearance in Boston on Monday. ATG, the Colonial tenant, rented the space to Forbes, who is hosting the Forbes 30 under 30 Summit. Forbes invited Senator Jeff Flake and Governor John Kasich to a panel discussion. We are seeking to exercise our right as the owners of the Colonial to have the panel canceled for safety reasons.
You may recall that Emerson shut the theater in 2015, looked at turning it into a student dining center, then handed over day-to-day control to the Ambassador Theatre Group.
H/t Ron Newman.
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Comments
Good job red pilling the
Good job red pilling the Republican moderates.
Sigh
Every time crap like this happens, 100 more people say, "Maybe Trump is right..."
What does that mean?
Can you translate it into more idiomatic English?
It's wankerspeak for...
It's wankerspeak for "you FORCED me/them to be more conservative".
Probably a good idea
Capacity of the theater is 1700. Given the ~50k counterprotestors who showed up for the Nazi rally last year, it wouldn’t surprise me if the protests filled the building and spilled out onto the street, shutting down Boylston Street and the Common. Emerson probably doesn’t want its name on the inevitable hearing before the Board.
Maybe
Emerson, of all institutions, should know how good BPD is at policing large demonstrations, given its location right across from the Common, which is where large demonstrations tend to start or wind up.
Well not too good a job
Well not too good a job policing.. aren't the city council and mayor thinking of banning the annual pot rally on the common because the police aren't able to control it to neighbors satisfaction?
Protesters wouldn't have been *inside* the theatre
as it is an expensive ticketed event. However, any protest in that location would have totally closed Boylston Street which is quite narrow here.
Irony Alert
Directly below the press release announcing the cancellation of the panel discussion is the Emerson News item . . "Communication Students 'Reclaiming Conversation' This Fall". With a pic of happy conversationalists next to a sign that says, LET'S TALK!
Yup
I say let him come, but heckle like there's no tomorrow.
No
Let them come, and let them talk. Don't be a jerk.
Its one thing to be heard. But then shut the hell up and let the senator be heard.
This applies to just about anything,. Ut especially to a US senator at a forum sponsored by a respectable institution (Fortune) for and coming leaders. (30 under 30).
Plus, Flake and Kasich are moderates. Whatever that means. And we need a hellofalot more moderates and a lot less McConnell's and Feinsteins.
Let's be clear about the venue and the talk
This is not some Ford Hall Forum type thing. This is part of a for-profit venture being run by Forbes Magazine and aimed at millennials who have struck it rich (they call it 30 Under 30). In order to see Flake and Kasich speak, you have to buy, at a minimum, a day pass, which right now goes for $945.
And nobody was talking about storming the venue and holding Flake captive or whatever other fever dreams RWNJs can think up. We're talking about people exercising their right to free speech and holding a protest in the public street outside (well, now I guess it will be the public City Hall Plaza, at least that part of which the city didn't rent out to Forbes).
Thank you, but
Thank you for providing info about the event. Point taken.
But @boston_res is saying people should "heckle like there's no tomorrow." Which is just being rude and selfish, no matter the event or the venue.
And I'd say this if I'd paid for a ticket to this Forbes event, or if someone was heckling my State Rep at a town hall instead of asking questions and listening
Heckling could still happen
not from members of the public (who aren't invited), but from the Forbes Under 30 crowd itself.
Forbes != Fortune
They are competitors!
Oh well...
Too bad this didn't happen at BC, then this article could have been called Banned in BC
Shame on Emerson
A communications school afraid of free speech. Or are they just too cheap to pay for extra security?
I'm a Lib, in case it matters. Emerson should welcome the opportunity to host a real conversation. I'd like to hear from both Flake and Kasich, even if I'll never vote for either.
And I'd guess that they'll get some really bad national PR. They'll deserve it. My respect for Emerson just took a dive.
My respect for Emerson just
I went to Emerson- so there wasn't much respect for them to lose on my part
Not a public event, not an Emerson event
As Adam explains above, this event was not open to the public and was not sponsored by Emerson nor by any organization at Emerson. The college is nothing more than a commercial landlord here, and has every right to ask Forbes to move the event elsewhere, where it won't cause a disruptive protest in the middle of a school day.
is this legal?
According to GuideStar Emerson is a non-profit:
https://www.guidestar.org/profile/04-1286950
If they're a 501c3 ( I didn't bother to find out) then this may not be a legal move.
Using "safety" as a pretense
Using "safety" as a pretense you can do almost anything.
the Colonial Theatre is a commercial enterprise
It is not being run as part of Emerson's educational program, like the Cutler Majestic and the Paramount. It's strictly a landlord-tenant relationship with a commercial entity, Ambassador Theatre Group.
Also, this wasn't a public event, but part of a very expensive private ticketed event, sponsored by Forbes magazine, solely for people under 30.
So is Bill Clinton banned
So is Bill Clinton banned from entering the city limits?
Bill Clinton wouldn't have won today
Democrats as a whole have far less tolerance for misdeeds towards women now than in 1996. Just look at Al Franken. Bill Clinton wouldn't have made it through the primaries if he was running in 2016 or 2020.
Too bad the same can't be said for Republicans.
Really?
Bill wasn't stumping for Hill in 2016?
And we know
how that worked out. But seriously, she was the candidate and he wasn't.
Given past behavior
And democratic values he should be a pariah. Instead Dems treat him like a rock star.
Got a cite?
Got a cite for that, apart from your fevered imagination?
...
Bill wasn't up for election. What exactly are you implying?
Let the man speak!
I'd rather see him grilled for 2 hours. Nix the panel discussion and have him host a Q&A with an assortment of people a diverse demographic.
These guys get off too easy by only going to friendly venues and media outlets.
I'd like to see him asked why he's taking a man's view over a woman's in which the man has everything to gain by lying yet the woman spoke up at her own peril. I'd like to hear to advice he'd give to a woman who was raped but isn't being believed because the accused is successful or from a good family.
Liberals. Tolerant until you disagree with them.
The only thing Republican about Flake and Kasich is party registration. Having those two speak about the "future of the Republican party" is like having the president of Dunkin' Donuts speak about the future of health food.
Is Emerson protecting them from violent liberals (both are liberal) or conservatives? Flake may cancel anyway, looks like the Senate will be in session.
Don't worry
Forbes will still be putting it on, only it looks like it'll be at City Hall Plaza. I'm sure a big spender like you will think nothing of dropping the $945 Forbes wants for a day pass.
I don't get how you move an
I don't get how you move an event from the Colonial Theater to City Hall Plaza. One is a place where you dress-up and attend a performance of Oklahoma! while the other is a place where they hold the Scooper Bowl and everyone stuffs themselves with gallons of ice cream.
Those are practically the most opposite type of spaces downtown as you can get.
Pretty easy, actually ...
Forbes was already planning to use tents on City Hall Plaza for talks as part of their Rich Millennials Ponder Deep Thoughts festival. So the main difference would be that the seats don't rise the further back you get.
Well a town in Cape Cod
Well a town in Cape Cod recently banned an art show because snowflake Trump supporters demanded the censure. So it seems less a party affiliation issue than an American issue.
...
Oh he can talk all he wants, just expect a protest outside of the venue.
Protest now scheduled for 10 am instead of 11
because Forbes changed the time as well as the location of their event.