Obama team apologizes for Robinson invocation omission
Mon. January 19, 2009 12:00 AM by Kevin Wayne
Washington, DC -
Barack Obama's inaugural committee is now taking the blame for a scheduling miscue that left openly-gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson's prayer out of HBO's live broadcast of Sunday's inaugural concert.
Robinson opened the star-studded concert at the Lincoln Memorial, but his invocation was pre-empted on the exclusive HBO televised broadcast of the concert.
On Sunday as HBO came under fire for not airing Robinson's prayer, the network and the show's producer blamed the Presidential Inaugural Committee for making the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show.
Today the officials who planned Sunday's inaugural music celebration, We Are One, have apologized for the error. They also say the bishop's prayer may be broadcast on the big screens before Tuesday's inauguration program begins.
"We regret the error in executing this plan, but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event," Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, was quoted as saying.
It also turns out half the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial couldn't hear Robinson give his prayer. A malfunction in at least one massive speaker tower is being blamed.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani, wrote on Monday: "Silencing the bishop's voice was a great loss. Obama's loss. Our loss."
Bishop Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, was invited to deliver the invocation last week after Mr. Obama was criticized by gay-rights advocates and liberals for asking the evangelical pastor Rick Warren, a vocal opponent to same-sex marriage, to deliver the invocation at the inauguration on Tuesday.
Warren, who is pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, spoke several times in favor of Proposition 8 and likened gay marriage to polygamy and marriage to children.
HBO says Robinson's invocation will be included in future repeats of the telecast.
Tuesday, nearly 2 million people are expected to crowd the National Mall for the Inauguration ceremony. Obama is to be sworn in as the 44th President at noon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, using the same Bible that Lincoln used at his own swearing in on March 4, 1861.
View Bishop Gene Robinson's Invocation
Robinson opened the star-studded concert at the Lincoln Memorial, but his invocation was pre-empted on the exclusive HBO televised broadcast of the concert.
On Sunday as HBO came under fire for not airing Robinson's prayer, the network and the show's producer blamed the Presidential Inaugural Committee for making the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show.
Today the officials who planned Sunday's inaugural music celebration, We Are One, have apologized for the error. They also say the bishop's prayer may be broadcast on the big screens before Tuesday's inauguration program begins.
"We regret the error in executing this plan, but are gratified that hundreds of thousands of people who gathered on the mall heard his eloquent prayer for our nation that was a fitting start to our event," Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the inaugural committee, was quoted as saying.
It also turns out half the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial couldn't hear Robinson give his prayer. A malfunction in at least one massive speaker tower is being blamed.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Cathleen Falsani, wrote on Monday: "Silencing the bishop's voice was a great loss. Obama's loss. Our loss."
Bishop Robinson, the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, was invited to deliver the invocation last week after Mr. Obama was criticized by gay-rights advocates and liberals for asking the evangelical pastor Rick Warren, a vocal opponent to same-sex marriage, to deliver the invocation at the inauguration on Tuesday.
Warren, who is pastor of the Saddleback Church in Southern California, spoke several times in favor of Proposition 8 and likened gay marriage to polygamy and marriage to children.
HBO says Robinson's invocation will be included in future repeats of the telecast.
Tuesday, nearly 2 million people are expected to crowd the National Mall for the Inauguration ceremony. Obama is to be sworn in as the 44th President at noon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, using the same Bible that Lincoln used at his own swearing in on March 4, 1861.
View Bishop Gene Robinson's Invocation