Singer Michelle Shocked, whose anti-gay rant at Yoshi’s (1330 Fillmore Street) in March ended with the staff turning off her microphone and announcing she would never perform there again, was preparing for a June 30 return to San Francisco for a Pride month concert sponsored by the San Francisco Examiner.
Examiner Publisher Todd Vogt (whose company also owns the SF Weekly and Bay Guardian weeklies and recently announced an investment in the Bay Area Reporter) defended his invitation to Shocked for the free concert, saying that he had hoped to spotlight bigotry and give Shocked a platform to apologize. But by June 20, he had scotched the idea.
Explaining the invitation, Vogt tweeted, “Maybe we challenged Michelle Shocked to come to SF, answer for what was said/reported, face her fans & foes alike and perform for free?” But after days of responding to the complaints, Vogt had scrubbed the project and tweeted, “I deserve all the anger & outrage be directed solely at me. I am sorry. Intended this to be healing but only caused more grief. My apologies.”
