First, he came for Dancing with the Stars. And we didn't speak out because, well, we weren't his kind of star.
(That, and neither Michael Bublé's Sinatra nor YouTube's Lindsey Stirling was on that particular broadcast.)
Yes, just in case you forgot, Grammy-winning violinist and "Pearls Before Breakfast" busker Joshua Bell did once appear on DWTS.
So, when Mr. Bell's publicists came next for the Miss America Pageant, apparently, there was no one left to speak, "Hey, Josh, this is probably a bad idea."
We mean, just look at this vaunted roster confirmed to pass superficial and antiquated judgment alongside him: *N Sync buffa Lance Bass, under-performing power forward Amar'e Stoudemire of the Knicks; Mario "Anthony Marentino" Cantone, ABC Shark Tank's Barbara Corcoran, ABC The Chew's Carla Hall and, umm, Dr. Deidre Downs Gunn, OBGYN.
As per usual, NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas made a good point.
"Maybe it's not so strange. As a friend of mine who is both a pageant fan and a savvy classical music publicist pointed out, lots and lots of pageant competitors play piano or violin or sing opera for the talent portion of the proceedings--such as Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler, or Miss America 1989, Gretchen Carlson of Fox News. For them, my friend argues, wouldn't it be much better to have Bell--or, in the preliminary rounds of this year's competition, former Boston Globe classical critic Richard Dyer--judge those Chopin and Liszt skills instead of, say, Lance Bass?"
All the same, Classicalite thinks both Bell and Bass would have something to say about Miss Minnesota's mediocre Massenet.
The Miss America Pageant returns to Atlantic City on Sunday, September 15. ABC, of course, will start its broadcast at 9 p.m.
Alas, Honey Boo Boo could not be reached for comment.
