Annoyed at live 8 comment

[Alixw]

Listening to the radio this morning - the news reader said that there had been reports of people (not sure who) moaning that not enough black people had been chosen to perform at the concert in london, (i.e, only Mariah Carey) Has it slipped their minds that the whole point of this concert is to help all the people in the third world countries (who are obviously mainly black)?! It may just be me, but that really annoyed me!!  

[VINNY100_2]

Sorry Im confused,Are you saying Mariah carey is black?

[WaldoMcFroog]

I think one can conceed the point to some extent, however, there is a precident.

Much the same accusation was levelled at Live Aid. Geldof's response was that he didn't care what colour they were, he wanted a bill which would raise the most money.

Substitute 'awareness' for 'money' and I suspect Geldof would claim the same logic.

[galltin]

Vinny100_2 I'm confused too! I heard this on the radio news and had exactly the same thought.

[PlainJane]

Am I missing something? Mariah Carey is of mixed race and is "ethnic".. About 5% of the UK population is ethnic. One act out of 22 is a good approximation of 5%.
Who cares anyway. The idea is to bring the issue of African endemic poverty to peoples' attention, not equality issues in the UK.

[Alixw]

Yeah mariah carey is of mixed race, so they are saying that she really is the only one that is classed as black who is performing.

Considering that they are selling this concert as 5 concerts in 1, surely the other black artist performing in the other countries count? Like Usher, Will Smith etc.

[Artful]

Does it matter about mariah Carey's origins. She sings and that is what people now, like and watch her for. Again political correctness - it creeps in everywhere. There aren't enough black people - I agree with you Alixw - the number of black people in the world who are left to suffer, starve, suffer from AIDS, be butchered in the various guerilla/civil wars; it's no wonder: there aren't that many coloured people around to perform-  they're all too sick.

[robbieh]

I think its shame the line up is so poor regardless of colour of skin! I think there should be more questioning of the general quality of acts and the fact the concert has to finish at 8, not skin colour. All thiswill do is boost the do-good egos of Coldplay and Joss Stone amongst others, which surely isn't required

[snoteater]

Plain Jane - 'ethnic' means 'of or relating to a group of people having a common national or cultural tradition' or 'denoting origin by birth or descent rather than by present nationality' - we are all ethnic.