Once known as "the livable city", Toronto the Good is quickly becoming "the laughable city". Last week, two men were ejected from the Rogers Centre during the 3rd inning of a baseball game between the Blue Jays and the angels. They were deemed not to be wearing appropriate attire.
The co-host and producer of the television show "Ed’s Night Party" attended the game and had the colossal nerve to show up wearing Ed the Sock t shirts that said, "I’d rather be a smartass than a dumbass". Presumably, it was the word "ass" that was too much for an usherette. after the men refused to turn their shirts inside out, they were thrown out of the Cable Box.
after they were booted, they were invited to meet with Blue Jays CEO Paul Godfrey who apologized and invited the guys back for another game. actually Godfrey owes them two games as the one that they were ejected from went 18 innings, the most number of innings played in Blue Jays’ history.
While this incident did not garner a great deal of publicity, it followed closely after Toronto resident and reigning Miss Universe, Natalie Glebova, was barred from appearing at the home of the homeless, Nathan Phillips Square, wearing a tiara or anything that signaled that she was a beauty contest winner because under a city bylaw, anything that might be demeaning to women is barred from the grounds of Toronto City Hall.
There is, of course no direct connection between Toronto’s municipal government and the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays’ Paul Godfrey did, however, spend most of his adult life as a municipal politician in Canada’s largest city. Coincidence? I think not.
Of course Godfrey did apologize, but then Toronto’s mayor David Miller also apologized to Glebova. Godfrey’s apology came much more quickly than the one that Mayor Miller issued but then there was never any doubt that when it comes to quickness, Paul Godfrey has it all over David Miller.
It stretches credulity that one lone usherette took it upon herself to have two guys who dared to wear the word "ass" on their shirts, thrown out of the Rogers Centre. She was obviously following some idiotic politically correct policy that defines the word "ass" as an obscenity.
Incidents like these, if they continue, will likely do more harm to tourism in this city than the occasional shoot out at Yonge and Dundas or the necessity of tourists having to step over homeless people when they choose to walk rather than sit in cars on our gridlocked streets. Toronto is spending big bucks on tourism. Despite the stupidity of the campaign being centered on Toronto’s new slogan, "Toronto Unlimited", much like the movie, "Plan 9 from Outer Space" it is likely to be effective because it is so bad. But all this public relations work will be for nothing if silly and ridiculous incidents like banning Miss Universe or the removal of the offending t shirt wearers from a professional baseball game continue to happen.
What makes these situations worse is that they are all based upon political correctness. The major city in the land of tolerance and diversity won’t tolerate a tiara or the word "ass". Yet nudity is a good thing if it occurs in a festivity during Pride Week.
at least Torontonians can be grateful for one thing. Mel Lastman is gone and we don’t have to listen to Toronto being called a world class city three times a day. There is nothing world class about Toronto these days.
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