Grammy Awards: Newtown Children’s Choir Performance Canceled

The “Call Me Maybe” performance by the Newtown Children’s Choir as part of the E! Network’s pre-Grammys red carpet special was called off by the E! Network today.

The group, which has made other appearances on TV, was to perform live to tape from Newtown, Connecticut before the Grammy Awards tonight.

The network blamed it on the blizzard in Connecticut. “Unfortunately the snowstorm prevented the Newtown Children’s Choir from being able to perform during our pre-Grammy coverage,” an E! spokesman told the Hartford Courant in an email.

This group is an entirely separate choir from the Sandy Hook Elementary School chorus (shown above) that sung American the Beautiful with Jennifer Hudson on Super Bowl Sunday, which may be the source of some controversy that might have led to the cancellation.

Newtown Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson appeared on national TV last week to explain that the children’s choir, a private group run by a former high school teacher in town, apparently has no formal connection with the Sandy Hook Elementary School and that some parents were concerned about the possible confusion between the two.

According to the Daily Mail,

“On Thursday, the school district superintendent Janet Robinson voiced misgivings about the choir during an appearance on CNN after parents called her office with their concerns.

“They had complained about Sabrina Post, who is leading the choir and runs a performing arts studio in the town, and her history with the school system, Robinson said.

“Post had been the choral director at Newtown High before she was charged with stealing through bogus expense vouchers and placed on leave in February 2005.

Does it matter if more than one choir purports to represent the town and/or the school?