Montreal pulls all-white anniversary promo video

MONTREAL • Organizers of Montreal’s 375th-anniversary celebrations in 2017 have taken down a video of Quebec stars promoting the “edgy and inclusive” city after a critic noted that all the featured performers were white.

The video, released last Thursday, advertised a variety show kicking off the festivities, to be broadcast next month on four Frenchlanguage Quebec TV networks.

“A wide range of performing artists will be on hand to pay tribute to Montreal with musical and comedic performances,” a news release said at the time. “There are plenty of anecdotes, stories and surprises on tap! Discover a creative, modern, edgy and inclusive Montréal, a welcoming Montréal.”

But in La Presse Tuesday, arts columnist Marc Cassivi pointed out that the trailer was anything but inclusive. From Celine Dion to Robert Charlebois, Marie-Mai to Les Cowboys fringants, not a single cultural minority was shown.

“You don’t call that a lack of diversity but a cruel absence of diversity,” Cassivi wrote. “I’m not saying this omission is intentional. On the contrary, and that is what is most disappointing. … We are all to blame for this distortion, for this deformed image of Montreal that corresponds to an equally false representation of who a Montrealer is.”

He pointed out that nearly one in three Montrealers belongs to a visible minority.

Organizers removed the video promptly following Cassivi’s critique, announcing on Twitter that a new version “that reflects the artistic diversity put forth in the show will be broadcast soon.”

Mayor Denis Coderre said he was disappointed by the video. “It does not represent diversity, and we have every reason not to be happy,” he told reporters.

Gilbert Rozon, commissioner for celebrations with the publicly funded Society for the Celebration of Montréal’s 375th Anniversary, took responsibility. “We dropped the ball,” he said. He promised that the 45-second promo, which features a clip of Celine Dion singing on the countertop at Schwartz’s deli and members of the 1970s Quebec band Beau Dommage performing on a downtown rooftop, would be “tweaked.”

The list of artists appearing does not include many minorities. One household name is Kent Nagano, the Japanese-American music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Normand Brathwaite, one of the first Quebecers of colour to forge a show-business career, will also perform. Among lesser-known artists appearing who are not old-stock Quebecers are Random Recipe, La Bronze, Marie-Christine Depestre and Boogat.

Anglophones and aboriginal performers are also scarce. Gino Vannelli, the crooner whose hits date back 30 years, is featured, but he does not get the billing accorded to American pop band the Backstreet Boys, who are slated to wish Montreal a happy birthday from abroad.

Rozon said it was a challenge amassing a lineup with broad appeal to attract viewers to the Dec. 11 broadcast. “Obviously we have to reflect the reality of the stars that are known in Quebec,” he said. Organizers said a parallel English-language show is in the works.

The non-profit Society has been given a $106-million budget to organize events throughout 2017 — $60 million from the province, $35 million from the city and $11 million from private companies.

A spokeswoman would not divulge the TV show’s cost, saying that would compromise negotiations for future shows.

WE ARE ALL TO BLAME FOR THIS ... DEFORMED IMAGE OF MONTREAL.