Students speak out against Fling artist

Not all Penn students were excited about the announcement that Snoop Dogg will perform at this year’s Spring Fling concert.

Students convened in the Penn Women’s Center Friday afternoon to discuss their reaction to this year’s choice of Fling headliner, Grammy-nominated rapper Snoop Dogg.

The discussion was organized as a venue for students to voice their opinions of the controversial artist and to consider how to transmit those opinions to a University-wide forum.

In a letter to the Social Planning and Events Committee, which organizes the Fling concert, College senior Lindsay Eierman and College junior Rachel Cohen expressed their concerns with the controversial performer.

In the letter, they quoted his song “Ain’t No Fun” as an example of Snoop Dogg’s misogynistic language: “I know the p****’s mine, I’ll f*** a couple more times/And then I’m through with it, there’s nothing else to do with it/Pass it to the homie, now you hit it/Cause she ain’t nothing but a b**** to me.”

At the discussion, students also read the response made by SPEC.

Students then watched a clip from Dreamworlds 3, a documentary that Eierman watched in one of her classes.

“Although I left the class stunned, I was not stunned by the images I saw or the lyrics I heard in the music videos, as those have become commonplace,” said Eierman. “Rather, I was stunned by my own numbness and nonchalance about what these videos are promoting.”

The documentary mentions the hardcore pornography film “Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle,” produced by Hustler magazine in 2001.

Later that day, when Eierman read that Snoop Dogg would be headlining for Fling, she said she was instantly worried because, “we learn dance moves and get fashion cues by watching music videos, so it makes sense that aggressive behavior might just be mimicking the actions shown in music videos.”

Cordozar Calvin “Snoop Dogg” Broadus boasts an extensive criminal record, including arrests for cocaine and marijuana possession, drug-dealing and weapons possession and has spent time in and out of prison.

Worried students plan to circulate a petition encouraging SPEC to consider the messages and behaviors promoted by the artists they invite for Fling.

The Women’s Center, along with other special events, will hold “Fling Break” for female students looking for a retreat from the weekend-long festivities of Spring Fling.

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