Nashville Scene Accidentally Publishes "Rascist" First Draft Review of the Musical In The Heights

We learn from Poynter that the Nashville Scene accidentally published Martin Brady’s review of the hit musical In the Heights, set in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood, without ridding it of Brady’s various remarks that could be called racist, or at the very least offensive, to many of the readers.

What did the original draft say? (The draft is no longer on the site; here is a link to a blog discussing it). Well, it begins by asking:

What will the American musical do for thematic material when the melting pot has completely turned to ethnic mush and no group is really underprivileged?

Perhaps there may be an overabundance of a certain type of musical, I don’t know. But the phrase “ethnic mush,” and the generally disparaging tone Brady takes with regard to “underprivileged” groups struck many people the wrong way. If Brady wanted to make a point that there are too many musicals focused on underprivileged groups and he was bored of them, fine. But it is a sensitive point to make, and should be made with delicacy.

Brady, on the other hand, goes on to say:

Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s story — book by Quiara Alegría Hudes — tells of a vibrant community in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood… In other words, an excuse to employ dynamic youthful minority performers who dance and sing and holler to a lot of salsa music and groove on lyrics about Latin loving and partying.

As a critic, Brady should have realized that his phrasing sort of suggests that the play is merely an excuse to employ minorities, rather than the creator believing that the diverse community had its own stories to tell. Anyways, readers whose blood was starting to boil by this point were finally treated to this last line:

But if you like your ingénues brown and leggy and your music “hot, hot, hot,” this is the show for you.

What? How did this get published? I’m almost too amazed he wrote it to be offended. Almost.

Scene editor Jim Ridley stepped in and updated the review, posting the following comment:

An unedited first draft of Martin Brady’s Critics’ Pick of In the Heights ran by accident in the online edition of the Nashville Scene. As is the case here, first drafts are places for writers to work out ideas that should often be discarded before they ever see the light of day. Instead, the uncorrected piece was published online, and many commenters were offended by the descriptive language in the piece — concerns that were raised with the author during the editing process, and which, to his credit, he apologized for and agreed to change. The Scene apologizes to all readers offended by the piece; I offer my own personal apology as well and accept responsibility for the error.