CBC VP apologizes to francophone artists for edited broadcast
Last Updated: Saturday, March 8, 2008 | 4:28 PM ET
CBC News
CBC executive vice-president Richard Stursberg has sent a formal apology to all artists whose performances were not included in a TV broadcast of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala.
The letter appears to be a reaction to an accusation by Quebec singer Claude Dubois this week accusing the CBC of "racism" after it edited out several Quebec artists from its Monday broadcast.
Quebec singer Claude Dubois was upset francophone artists were cut out of a CBC broadcast of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala. Dubois was an inductee.
(David Boily/Canadian Press)
Dubois, who was inducted at the gala in Toronto last Saturday, said the public broadcaster had insulted Quebecers.
He said cutting francophone artists was "a bit like saying we want Quebec without the Quebecers."
Stursberg says the CBC did not intend to offend "any particular artists by excluding them."
"It was our view that the broadcast, on CBC's English language network and directed at an anglophone audience, should focus on music and musicians most familiar to that audience," Stursberg wrote in a letter sent on Friday.
"Upon reflection and based upon the negative reaction to the television broadcast, we acknowledge that we could have done a better job of reflecting the full diversity of the participants."
The CBC said Thursday the French performances were among cuts needed to squeeze the three-hour gala into a 44-minute time slot.
Dubois, described as Quebec's "first real punk," has been making music for 40 years.
