{"id":859755,"date":"2021-10-08T12:13:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-08T16:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=859755"},"modified":"2021-10-08T12:14:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-08T16:14:01","slug":"a-renowned-composer-showed-his-class-othello-featuring-laurence-olivier-students-led-a-revolt-and-now-hes-accused-of-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-renowned-composer-showed-his-class-othello-featuring-laurence-olivier-students-led-a-revolt-and-now-hes-accused-of-racism\/","title":{"rendered":"A Renowned Composer Showed His Class \u2018Othello\u2019 Featuring Laurence Olivier. Students Led A Revolt And Now He\u2019s Accused Of Racism."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-renowned-composer-showed-his-class-othello-featuring-laurence-olivier-students-led-a-revolt-and-now-hes-accused-of-racism%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=859755&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/GettyImages-1322099608.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The latest victim of \u201ccancel culture\u201d is a renowned composer who survived China\u2019s Cultural Revolution only to be accused by college undergraduates of racism for showing the 1965 film \u201cOthello\u201d featuring Laurence Olivier.<\/p>\n<p>Bright Sheng, the Leonard Bernstein Distinguished University Professor of Composition at the University of Michigan School Of Music, Theater, and Dance, is by all accounts a renowned composer, conductor, and pianist. As The Michigan Daily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigandaily.com\/news\/academics\/following-blackface-incident-professor-bright-sheng-takes-step-back-from-teaching-smtd-composition-course\/\">reported<\/a>, his music has been featured by \u201cprestigious groups including the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chinese National Symphony Orchestra and the New York City Ballet Orchestra.\u201d He\u2019s also received \u201cnumerous awards and fellowships,\u201d and \u201creceived a commission in honor of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji visiting the White House in 1999.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But all of that success was no match for a bunch of college students claiming trauma and demanding Sheng be punished even after he apologized and made clear that he meant no offense.<\/p>\n<p>On September 10, freshman Olivia Cook attended Sheng\u2019s composition seminar. The course that year was going to analyze the works of William Shakespeare, and Sheng\u2019s first class featured the 1965 film \u201cOthello,\u201d which featured actor Laurence Olivier wearing blackface. Sheng told the Daily that he showed the film to highlight how opera composer Giuseppe Verdi had adapted the play. Sheng told the outlet that cross-casting happens regularly in opera and didn\u2019t see Olivier\u2019s performance \u201cthe same as the minstrel performances which did degrade African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought [that] in most cases, the casting principle was based on the music quality of the singers,\u201d Sheng wrote to the paper. \u201cOf course, time [sic] has changed, and I made a mistake in showing this film. It was insensitive of me, and I am very sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, in today\u2019s woke culture, intentions don\u2019t matter. All that matters is the feelings of the most sensitive students looking to be outraged and root out alleged offenders.<\/p>\n<p>Cook, the undergraduate who attended Sheng\u2019s showing of \u201cOthello,\u201d told the Daily that she realized something was wrong when the film began, but didn\u2019t realize she could be outraged until \u201cfurther inspection,\u201d when she noticed Olivier was in blackface.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was stunned,\u201d Cook said. \u201cIn such a school that preaches diversity and making sure that they understand the history of POC [people of color] in America, I was shocked that [Sheng] would show something like this in something that\u2019s supposed to be a safe space.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheng was alerted to his error and sent out an apology shortly after class, saying Olivier\u2019s casing was \u201cracially insensitive and outdated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That wasn\u2019t good enough. Five days later, David Gier, dean of the School of Music, Theatre &amp; Dance, sent an email to the department that mentioned the incident and also apologized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProfessor Sheng\u2019s actions do not align with our School\u2019s commitment to anti-racist action, diversity, equity and inclusion,\u201d Gier said in the email, according to the Daily. Gier also said in his email that Sheng had been reported to the Office of Equity, Civil Rights, and Title IX over the incident.<\/p>\n<p>On September 16, Sheng sent out another apology, a formal one to the entire department. This apology said he had done more research into racism in America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a classroom, I am a teacher representing the university and I should have thought of this more diligently and fundamentally; I apologize that this action was offensive and has made you angry,\u201d Sheng wrote, according to the Daily. \u201cIt also has made me lost [sic] your trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheng also included multiple examples of how he cast people of color in his previous operas. This angered students further, who claimed these examples were just excuses and made it seem like he was insisting he had been responsible for the success of those he cast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe could have taken responsibility for his actions and realized that this was harmful to some of his students that are within his class,\u201d said Cook, the undergrad who claimed the film affected her. \u201cInstead, he tried to make excuses. Instead of just apologizing for it, he tried to downplay the fact that the entire situation happened in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One graduate student told the Daily that graduate students heard about the incident and started reaching out to undergraduates for moral support.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was sort of a protective reaction from the grad students, like \u2018what can we do to help the undergraduates? What do they need?\u2019\u201d the student said. \u201cClearly they\u2019re not going to be in a room with [Sheng] anytime soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On September 23, 18 undergraduate composition students, 15 graduate composition students, and nine members of the school\u2019s staff and faculty sent a letter to dean Grier further complaining about Sheng\u2019s showing of the film, even though he had now apologized twice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProfessor Sheng responded to these events by crafting an inflammatory \u2018apology\u2019 letter to the department\u2019s students in which he chose to defend himself by listing all of the BIPOC individuals who he has helped or befriended throughout his career,\u201d the letter said, according to the Daily. \u201cThe letter implies that it is thanks to him that many of them have achieved success in their careers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The letter demanded Sheng be removed from teaching the undergraduate composition seminar, even though the actions up to this point clearly got the point across.<\/p>\n<p>When Sheng heard about the letter \u2013 three weeks after he had shown the movie in class \u2013 he stepped down from teaching the seminar. As the Daily noted, Sheng said he was \u201cstill teaching students in his studio, serving other departmental and school-wide duties and working on research projects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The graduate student who told the Daily that they reached out to undergrads for moral support said that Sheng not teaching the seminars was \u201cthe bare minimum\u201d and said they wished he had been punished further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like the thing that we all actually needed [was] a true and honest and genuine understanding that he did something wrong, not just [him] trying to defend himself,\u201d the graduate student told the outlet. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s still a lack of trust there because none of us think he is actually sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest victim of \u201ccancel culture\u201d is a renowned composer who survived China\u2019s Cultural Revolution only to be accused by college undergraduates of racism for showing the 1965 film \u201cOthello\u201d &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}