ONTD

1:43 pm - 07/29/2012

Olympic Choreographer “Disheartened" NBC Cut His Entire Victims Tribute



“Our program is tailored for the U.S. television audience,” NBC responds.

“It’s a credit to (ceremony director) Danny Boyle that it required so little editing.”


Choreographer Akram Khan, whose "Abide With Me" tribute performance (which you can watch here) at last night's opening ceremony, was visibly shocked to learn NBC had edited out his performance when the network aired the ceremony in tape delay, choosing instead to air a Ryan Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps.

The performance was widely interpreted as a tribute to the victims of the 7/7 London bombings, as well as people who passed away before the 2012 Olympics.

Khan was silent, then he explained to the room and the reporter that this was the first he heard this news. You could see Khan was upset, stunned, shaken and disappointed all in an instant.

Khan's dance director and partner in the performance Farooq Chaudhry told Nicholas Wolaver "It's disgraceful U.S. media could make that decision and [I] would like to know why. Khan later said, "I am really sad that I couldn’t show the work in America, and that really upsets me, because I don‘t think it’s any more or less than the other pieces. It brings to mind the question … that maybe it’s too truthful...Is it not accessible enough? Is it not commercial enough?”

“Our program is tailored for the U.S. television audience,” said NBC Sports spokesman Greg Hughes in a statement. “It’s a credit to (ceremony director) Danny Boyle that it required so little editing.”

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psubookworm27 29th-Jul-2012 04:14 am (UTC)
oooooooooh gotcha. Sorry, I didn't mean that as a personal dig to you, but it totally came out that way. I'm just still fucking pissed off that Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera (sp?) wouldn't SHUT.THE.FUCK.UP. Like, JK Rowling came on to read and her name flashed below her on screen and then they'd say "This is of course, JK Rowling". WE CAN READ, FFS, BUT WE CAN'T HEAR WHAT'S SHE SAYING OVER YOUR DUMB ASS.
ectypes 29th-Jul-2012 04:16 am (UTC)
Hahaha, it's cool. I am used to the snark on ONTD! I watched a bit of NBC and can remember them being annoying. That's why I turned it off!
psubookworm27 29th-Jul-2012 04:19 am (UTC)
and I stg if Matt Lauer commented once about how fast the parade of nations was going, he commented a hundred times. And Bob Costas-the dick-felt the need to point out all these countries that used to be part of the British Empire. Like, they're sovereign nations now, let's not make them seem less that that.
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