Musco Center for the Arts receives negative, anti-LGBTQ comments regarding LatinXoxo event
Migguel Anggelo’s upcoming performance at LatinXoxo receives homophobic backlash on social media. This is not the first time LGBTQ+ events at Chapman have received negative comments within the past year. Photo illustration by EMILY PARIS, Photo Editor
The Musco Center for the Arts is currently gearing up for its LatinXoxo Oct. 19 event with a performance by Migguel Anggelo, an artist who combines Latin heritage with queer identity, but promotion for this event has received some negative feedback on social media.
Musco Public Engagement Coordinator Lola Olvera recalls a negative comment on an Instagram reel promoting the event back in August. Olvera stated that comments of that nature are often deleted so other users and Musco performers don’t have to see them. Discouraging comments are also not responded to because it is not “too productive to engage.”
Screenshots courtesy of Lola Olvera
In this instance, Anggelo responded to the user who made the comment.
This led to Olvera also commenting from the Musco Instagram account.
“Migguel's a very lovely person,” Olvera said. “He just wanted to start a conversation about it, so they had an exchange about it. That was on one of the first posts that we had shared about the show.”
Olvera states that there have been a “handful” of negative comments on Instagram posts that Musco has shared about LatinXoxo. These comments have since been deleted.
She has also noticed an increase in adverse comments within the past year.
“We've had homophobic comments and queer-phobic comments in general for a couple of our other artists,” Olvera said. “George Takei had quite a few, and that one I did step in to leave a moderating comment (saying) that if you want to have a constructive conversation about his work or the event itself you can, but you can't be making offensive comments, aggressive comments — that kind of thing.”
Olvera continued: “We had a couple for one of our Heartbeat of Mexico festivals, where we had a drag queen named Kay Sedia. She also got a couple of comments from people who said that they didn't wanna come to the event because they didn't support that kind of thing. So, it's definitely upsetting to see that there's a pattern of homophobia.”
According to the 2022 Orange County Hate Crimes Report, found that “there was a 126% increase in anti-LGBTQ hate activity reported compared to 2021.”
Musco is putting in more effort to make attendees, as well as Anggelo, feel safe at the LatinXoxo event. As a part of his Leap of Art Residency, Anggelo is attending Chapman classes this week including Queer Anthropology and Latinx Studies.
“We're going to have two public safety officers at the show — one in the lobby and one backstage —and then we've also heightened our security measures in terms of securing the building in general,” Olvera said. “Migguel has a public safety officer accompanying him to all his classes.”
Members of Musco’s staff are also present with Anggelo as he attends his classes. A first aid team will be in attendance for the LatinXoxo event as well.
“We trust that the Chapman community overall is supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, but we also know that anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is on the rise in Orange County, so we take any negative feedback seriously and have implemented additional safety measures for this show,” Olvera said.
“We’ve had homophobic comments and queer-phobic comments in general for a couple of our other artists. George Takei had quite a few, and that one I did step in to leave a moderating comment (saying) that if you want to have a constructive conversation about his work or the event itself you can, but you can’t be making offensive comments, aggressive comments — that kind of thing.”
Director of LGBTQ+ Pride and Achievement Kevin Nguyen-Stockbridge was in conversation with Musco about creating a secure space for the event.
“One of the things that's happening is that we also have — maybe part of that tying into security — is also support that is coming around,” Nguyen-Stockbridge said. “There's several organizations that have been invited to table from the community and within Chapman, for example, just to be a visual presence of support, and that is a part of community support that itself becomes part of creating a secure space.”
Some organizations that will be tabling at the event include the LGBTQ Center OC, Chapman’s DEI Office and Boy Scouts of America, among others.
Despite the negative feedback about Anggelo’s performance, Nguyen-Stockbridge said there have also been many positive responses from the Chapman community.
“I've heard a lot of people are very much excited to have this particular performance,” Nguyen-Stockbridge said. “It really looks at this beautiful intersection of culture, gender (and) sexuality, and so people are really excited to have Migguel here.”
“We trust that the Chapman community overall is supportive of the LGBTQ+ community, but we also know that anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment is on the rise in Orange County, so we take any negative feedback seriously and have implemented additional safety measures for this show.”
Nguyen-Stockbridge believes this performance is a “powerful testimony to how we build and demonstrate an inclusive space as a campus.”
Migguel Anggelo wants his statement to be the theme of LatinXoxo: “The greatest gift you can give to someone else is the truth of who you are.”
“I’ve heard a lot of people are very much excited to have this particular performance. It really looks at this beautiful intersection of culture, gender (and) sexuality, and so people are really excited to have Migguel here.”
