Broadway Press Agency booting reporter from red carpet of MJ: 'The Musical' is shameful
During the opening night red carpet of MJ: The Musical, a reporter from Variety was kicked out of the press line because he was asking questions about the allegations of sexual abuse that followed Michael Jackson the last twenty years of his life and beyond.
Reporter Michael Appler tweeted that after asking members of the cast their thoughts on the past controversies, he was confronted by a representative from the press agency DKC/OM, and was told to leave because he was asking “difficult” questions.
According to Variety,
“Yet, after several candid conversations with cast members, representatives for the show told Variety’s reporter that he was no longer welcome on the carpet.
“I’ve been hearing you’re asking difficult questions,” one representative said. “Not on opening night. If you would like to ask real questions, you can schedule an interview with the cast.”
The representative revealed that the show’s principal cast members weren’t prepared to answer questions about controversies surrounding the late musician.”
How the press agency didn’t prepare the cast for these types of questions is beyond me.
To my knowledge, this is the first time I’ve ever seen that happen during an event like that. It’s not uncommon at certain types of press events that instructions on what can be asked and what cannot are made clear by press agents. But, as I’ve been told, there were no such instructions given for the red carpet opening night press line.
At this time, it is unknown if the reporter was kicked out because producers demanded it, or if it was a pre-emptive action by the press agency, or maybe someone from the Jackson estate itself. But it doesn’t matter because it was nothing short of cowardly and shameful.
It would appear that those at DKC/OM and producers would only like red carpet reporters to ask questions about the actor’s feelings on opening night and who they’re wearing, rather than “real questions”.
What really gets me angry about all of this is that for a show that could use all the good PR it can get, the actions of DKC/OM is a gigantic step backward.
I also don’t like how they did this to a reporter, and publication, that is so integral to the NY theatre industry. For as small as the Broadway community is, its media community is even smaller. And trust me when I say this, DKC/OM needs Variety more than Variety needs DKC/OM. And with all due respect to the Jackson estate, you’re guests in this Broadway space right now. There are ways to handle things here and this isn’t the way to do it.
I don’t know if DKC/OM has apologized to the reporter and Variety, but they need to, and they should do it publicly. If they don’t, I have no problem if theatre publications opted not to review or promote any project DKC/OM is involved with.
And another shame of it all is that some of the cast members had perfect answers to these types of questions. Such as Quentin Earl Darrington, who plays the roles of Joe and Rob Jackson.
Darrington said,
“I pray that for every piece of theater that you see — whether it's 'Oklahoma,' 'MJ The Musical,' or 'The Music Man' — that you can find yourself in the story being told. You can grapple, wrestle, be enlightened, be intrigued, be mystified by how you fit in the context of life being displayed before you.
Maybe you have some questions. Maybe you have some resolutions. Maybe you'll be frightened. But that's what art is all about."