Rockettes Told to 'Tolerate Intolerance' With Trump Inauguration Performance
An executive at the company that owns the Radio City Rockettes brand told dancers in a private meeting last week that they should "be tolerant of intolerance" when it comes to performing at President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20th. Madison Square Garden executive chairman James Dolan met with the dancers for nearly 40 minutes on December 27th, with excerpts of the meeting published by Marie Claire.
"I would simply say: we're celebrating a new president, not necessarily this president," Dolan told the dancers. He stressed that it was an honor to perform at any presidential inauguration.
"I don't believe it's going to hurt the brand," he said. "And nobody is more concerned about that than the guy sitting in this chair. I'm about to spend $50 million remounting this summer show. I'm going to spend a similar amount remounting next year's Christmas show. I gotta sell tickets. ... A good portion of people voted for this person. Hopefully they will like our brand. If one percent of one percent of them come to our show, we're going to do great."
He also focused on the idea of tolerance, calling the way people have reacted online and personally to the booking announcement "ironic." "I get all of these emails, too, from people saying, 'Don't perform for this hateful person,'" he said. "And then they proceed to spew out this diatribe of hate."
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/rockettes-management-says-tolerate-intolerance-with-trump-w458753?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=010317_16
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Gee, I wonder why. 
Participation will be mandatory for the July 4th White House performance.
