Modified On August 14, 2012
We posted yesterday about a comic, Steve Trevino, who played Villanova University on Friday night who was the subject of a nasty story on Monday on local television station WPVI. (See post below, “College gig gone horribly wrong!”) We ended the post by speculating that there had to be more to the story.
Turns out there is another side. And it’s on Trevino’s blog and it’s contained in a bulletin that Trevino sent out, via MySpace, at 9:36 PM EDT. Here’s the meat of it:
Recently, I was asked to perform at Villanova University. I was asked to do a clean show as I am at most colleges. When I arrived I was picked up by two students who were head of some student organization. The first thing I covered when I met them was what they expected from me and how PG did they wanted my show to be. I was told not to worry, these are college students and that PG-18 would be just fine. I went through the bits I planned on doing and was told they were okay and shouldn’t be a problem. Before I went on stage, I again asked which words I could use like shit and the F bomb and again I was told those words weren’t a problem.
I also find it funny that they chose to portray me as a racist and say that I used the N word, which I absolutely never did. Ironically, my roommate for the last five years has been a black man. I also find it entertaining that they say I was “given the hook” after only fifteen minutes. I had actually been on stage 35-40 minutes. I was handed a note asking me to wrap it up and telling me the show was over. I politely wrapped up show and said goodnight. When I exited the stage security was waiting for me and I was told I would have to leave. I then told security I wanted to speak with someone in charge before I left. It was not until this point that I actually got to see or even speak with Kathy Burns, Vice President of the school, who appears in the news segments. Mrs. Burns got on stage and informed the audience that the show was over. The best part of the untold story is, at that point the audience chanted “Let him stay!” and actually booed her for asking me to leave. When Mrs. Burns finally spoke with me, she told me my act was not what we had agreed upon and that racist humor and drinking jokes were not acceptable at Villanova. So I guess at “VillaNoFun” nobody drinks and nobody says racial jokes. It’s crazy that they don’t do racial humor. Who did I offend? –The 95% of the audience that was white or the other 5% who where Black, Asian, Hispanic, and Other. I confronted the gentleman who had repeatedly given me the okay and he admitted in front of Mrs. Burns that he had cleared my jokes and my language.
Steve Trevino
What follows is the email sent out by VP of Student Life, the Rev. John Stack, sent out to the student body. This is priceless.
As you may have heard, Friday night, as part of the New Student Orientation program, there was a comedian whose act consisted of hurtful, inappropriate, and offensive remarks about race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender. Please note that the Orientation staff had reviewed tapes of this comedian’s performances prior to booking and had a contract with him clearly outlining standards for language and content. The comedian chose to violate this contract during his performance. The Orientation staff ended the act after 15 minutes, when it was clear that the comedian was in violation of his contract and of our community standards. Sue Ciccone, the Director of New Student Orientation, sent an email to the first year students later in the evening to address the issue, which I’ve included at the bottom of this email.As a result of this incident, many of our new students were hurt and offended. As members of the Student Life Staff and of the Villanova community, we share this hurt and concern.
Resident Assistants were made aware of the incident, and the Diversity Peer Educators and members of Campus Ministry were briefed. They incorporated the incident into their presentation to the new students on Saturday and Sunday to afford students an opportunity to discuss what had happened.
While I believe that those offended now know that the University acted quickly and appropriately, I am asking you to alert us if you become aware of students who feel any level of discomfort due to this incident. Please know that Dr. Terry Nance, Assistant VP for Multicultural Affairs, and Kathy Byrnes, Associate VP for Student Life, as well as other Student life staff are available to meet with any concerned students or parents.
I hope that this information is helpful to you. All of us in Student Life thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Rev. John P. Stack, O.S.A.
Vice President for Student Life
YES! We must afford the offended students the “opportunity to discuss what happened,” lest they bottle it all up inside them and perhaps explode! The poor dears!
Below is the email sent to new students on Friday night by Sue Ciccone, Director of Orientation:
Dear First-Year Student:
On behalf of the Orientation Program, I would like to sincerely apologize for the content of the comedian’s show this evening. The message you heard tonight was not consistent with our Orientation program, Villanova’s mission or our Augustinian tradition. It was not a part of who we are or what we stand for, nor does the comedian represent Villanova in any way. If you have any concerns or would like to discuss anything, please do not hesitate to speak with your OC, any member of the Orientation staff or myself.
Sincerely,
Sue Ciccone
Is there a more ridiculous bunch of people than those currently entrusted with the care of our adolescents on college campuses today? How many students could there possibly be that actually require this kind of ass-wiping? And are they worth catering to in this manner? How much further off could the student life bureaucrats be in their estimation of the emotional maturity of their charges?
This is the reason Dave Attell doesn’t do college gigs any more.
We spoke to Trevino on the phone and he sounds totally credible. He says that not only has he done many college gigs, but he’s even done several gigs for T.E.C.— described on their website as “A Catholic Movement of Spirituality for Older Adolescents and Young Adults”– so Trevino knows the score when it comes to keeping it clean.
What WPVI did and what the drones at Villanova did was reprehensible– ‘PVI for not contacting the comic for his side of the story and ‘Nova for not accepting any of the responsibility for what happened. Villanova felt the need to not only blame the comic, but they also told two huge whoppers– The comic used the “N-word,” which he denies, and, they claim that the comic failed to live up to his side of the agreement by doing only 15 minutes of a contracted 90 minutes. Trevino said he did 40 of a contracted 45. Huge difference.
Ass-covering at Villanova by bureaucrats and student lackeys and shoddy reporting by veteran reporter Cathy Gandolfo have combined to potentially damage the reputation of a professional comedian in the sixth largest market in the country.
Gandolfo should have known better– we were able to contact Trevino easily via MySpace. She could have just as easily done so.