The Sing Off

Recently I watched an Episode of a television show called The Sing Off. The groups sang acapello and competed against one another. During the first portion of the show 4 groups competed and one had to go home. Two of those groups were called Messiah's Men and Sonos.

My original impression of the judges is that wanted to be fair. They, in a sense, criticized without criticizing. They would offer help in the technical details of each group. But I have a problem with these judges choosing which group to send home.

One of members of Sonos was a friend of and had sang with one of the judges, Sarah Bareilles and they got to move on, I think, because they knew one of the Judges.

Messiah's Men is a Gospel group from Libya. Had they not been black men from Libya they probably would not have made it on the show in the first place. Messiah's Men went home because they are a gospel group. In other words they were discriminated against because 1) They are a gospel group and 2) One of the judges was a personal friend of one of the singers on Sonos.

The judges were fair and reasonable with their comments, but to deny that they showed favoritism to their friends or that they discriminated against someone on the basis of religion is in my opinion, a lie.

The judges were Shawn Stockman , Sarah Bareilles and Ben Folds. One thing the judges did not do is reveal who they had voted for in the final decision. As far as I know Sarah Bareilles may not have voted for the group with her friend, but there were at least two votes in favor of her friend's group Sonos and at least two against Messiah's Men. Looks a whole lot like favoritism and discrimination to me.

Personally I think the 2^nd part of the show also showed some favoritism. There was a group of old white men that were not any better than Messiah's Men yet they didn't even face elimination. I wish the judges had not shown favoritism to their friends and discriminated against a gospel group, but I think they did and I think they ought to own up to it, admit and explain to the public why they did. What could have been a great show has been tainted by these unethical decisions that the judges have made.

I understand decisions are difficult, but favoritism and discrimination is not ethical and I think the judges can not honestly claim they did not do so. Hopefully in the future they will refrain from such behavior.