News

6 Mar 2018

Adelaide soundguy lives up to tired stereotype, regrets it immediately, apologises.

As reported at themusic.com.au and on social media, a sound tech at Adelaide’s The Gov managed to insult a female band member with a sexist comment last Friday, moments before she was to take the stage. Reportedly asking ‘How’s the glass ceiling going for you?’ of said band member, the sound tech was consequently flayed on social media by the headliner and roundly condemned by all involved, before triggering an apology from the man himself and a public statement from The Gov’s owners, Melissa and Jo Tonkin.

“On behalf of the Tonkin family, owners of The Gov for the last 25 years, we unreservedly apologise for the dumb comment made by our sound technician Mike on Saturday night, towards a female artist. There’s no excuse for comments like these in the workplace, or anywhere.”

90% of working in live production is making your artists feel safe, happy, and confident. All great operators and techs have a rapport with their performers, who are paying their wages, and that’s what keeps getting them hired. Don’t delude your yourself – this is a service industry, albeit a niche and weirdly skilled one.

Mike has issued a full apology, accepted by the band, but did one of these three things –

a) said something he didn’t understand (dumb, don’t).

b) said something he did understand, but thought he was bringing the ‘edgy humour’ beloved of trolls and men’s rights activists (don’t, even dumber.); or

c) said something deliberately cruel, in which case I hope the door to the industry doesn’t hit him on the way out.

It’s up to you to educate yourself on acceptable behaviour. And congratulations for picking the worst possible time in the history of our culture to make a sexist comment to a female performer – #metoo #timesup

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