Musical icon Stevie Wonder proclaimed that he would never again perform in Florida until the “Stand Your Ground” laws were repealed.
Afterwards, all the other artists magically cancelled their scheduled concerts, which eventually amassed millions of dollars and huge legal woes. However, their gesture of solidarity and commitment meant more than money.
This was about the life and tragic death of Trayvon Martin and the travesty of justice known as the trial of George Zimmerman.
After the list was published, the media ran with it, citing a journalist named April Ryan. Somebody finally put the key in the revolution and started the engine.
And -poof-it all began to unravel.
What if it did happen?
But, what if — what if — the massive entertainment based boycott above had come to life as it had momentarily in the oft-fictitious world of the blogosphere.
What if Young Jeezy stood his ground side by side with Madonna on this issue in protest of the not guilty verdict of one George Zimmerman? Here’s how it would go down…
Immediately, the artists would realize that their emotions got the better of them in the case of George Zimmerman. Their lawyers and business managers would quickly give them a rundown of exactly how much money they could potentially lose for taking a stand of this sort. Many of the artists like Rod Stewart would also realize that they really didn’t follow the specifics of the case and that he sympathized with Zimmerman in a way.
Of course Trayvon Martin deserved to live, but had he been instructed like the jury, what would he really have done?
Some, like Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and Trey Songz realized quickly that it was much bigger than Florida and Trayvon. Some 26 states in America have Stand Your Ground Laws (with Florida being the first) and there was no way they were going to boycott all of them. Will.I.Am talked to Fergie and she informed him that Zimmerman didn’t even evoke “Stand Your Ground” in court and it really wasn’t truly the reason he was found not guilty in the killing of Trayvon Martin.
Erykah Badu, being the mystic she is, empathized with all the black-owned businesses that would also suffer in Florida. U.S. Census Bureau backed her up too, as Florida was right behind Georgia and New York in the recent surge of black owned businesses. Plus, she was with Usher – she didn’t want the fans to suffer for what Zimmerman did. Madonna recalled the ’08 backlash she felt after saying, “Sarah Palin can’t come to my party! Sarah Palin can’t come to my show!” She didn’t want that again.
Heck, The Rolling Stones realized they were just wrong in backing the boycott, citing they were getting close to joining the ever-growing senior citizen population there in the Sunshine State.
And after a while, all of the artists in this fictitious tale realized, “This is deeper than anything I’ve ever been involved in and I’m not ready for this battle.” Folks like Jay Z lent their face to the cause and kept on with business.
And then reality returned.
In my gut, I knew the boycott of this magnitude couldn’t be real, even though I was hopeful that the masses of otherwise apathetic entertainers would do something radical. But, these days “radical” is sending out a tweet opposing the verdict of George Zimmerman.
For the remainder, head over to TheGrio.com.