For proof that smart people are not immune from saying exceptionally stupid and insensitive things, look no further than ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where host Lara Spencer apologized Monday for her snide remarks about a 6-year-old boy who’s taking ballet classes.
The 6-year-old happens to be Prince George, the great-grandson of Queen Elizabeth and most likely a future king of England. The young prince certainly is a public figure, but Spencer proved that bad taste has no boundaries.
Last Friday, Spencer reported on the prince’s fondness for ballet and advised his father, Prince William: “We’ll see how long that lasts.”
Her co-host George Stephanopoulos laughed when Spencer said it, as did the studio audience, so let’s get the stereotypes out of the way first. There obviously are more girls interested in learning about ballet than there are boys. And plenty of people see boys or young men who dance on a stage as effeminate or gay.
That makes the next step of bullying obvious, and that’s exactly what a number of men who are professional dancers say happened to them as children.
So by mocking a 6-year-old’s curiosity about ballet, Spencer unwittingly encouraged more bullying. Dancers fear the damage is done despite her profuse apology.
A couple of thoughts. Did Lara Spencer ever see “High School Musical?” Then, if the arts are unmanly, how come Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith and many other professional athletes have appeared on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars?”
Derek Hough, one of that show’s best, and best-looking, professional dancers, gets the last word: “A young boy training in an athletic art form that requires an insane amount of discipline, strength, agility, flexibility, speed, dedication, awareness of mind, body, soul and creativity doesn’t seem like something to laugh about,” he wrote last week.
Good insight. All of us should quit snickering.
Jack Ryan, Enterprise-Journal
