Who made the decision to mute Bishop Robinson? HBO has blamed the Presidential Inauguration Committee (see coverage on After Elton). Politco’s Ben Smith has this:
“We had always intended and planned for Rt. Rev. Robinson’s invocation to be included in the televised portion of yesterday’s program. We regret the error in executing this plan – but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event,” emails PIC communications director Josh Earnest.
The statement is inadequate to the offense and explains nothing. Bishop Robinson’s invocation was moved forward in the program, and the effect of that move was most likely apparent to the people who made it. The PIC owes the bishop and his supporters an explanation.
Pam Spaulding has done a round-up of some reaction, and the Huffington Post is also on the case. Jason Linkins writes:
HBO comes to this controversy without any sort of significant reputation for being a network or a workplace hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. In fact, the network is responsible for airing the drama Six Feet Under, which depicted gays in complex relationships unflinchingly. The Obama camp, on the other hand, has courted controversy already with the decision to include in the inauguration Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, a supporter of Proposition 8 in California. The appearance of a snub in the case of Bishop Robinson has successfully raised the temperature among Democratic activists and in the liberal blogosphere, where outrage is being pointed mostly at the incoming administration and the Presidential Inaugural Committee.