Dance On, Prince George
Laura Jeanne Portera
In the last few hours, Good Morning America co-anchor Lara Spencer has seen a widespread backlash from her bullying comments made against Prince George this morning. Lara, George Stephanopoulos, and Amy Robach were discussing the 6-year-old's curriculum at school and noted that this royal child would be continuing his study in ballet. Immediately Lara, as well as the entire audience began laughing at the thought, and Lara went on to state, "Prince William said Prince George absolutely loves ballet … I have news for you, Prince William, we'll see how long that lasts."
Backlash immediately flew in from the Broadway community on Twitter. Broadway's finest such as Audra McDonald, Shoshana Bean, Ramin Karimloo, Rosie O'Donnell, Tony Yazbeck, Scott Alan and so many more went on to state that Lara's comments were contributing to the toxic masculinity problem in our society today.
Lara later on in the day took to Instagram writing, "My deepest apologies for an insensitive comment I made during pop news on Thursday. From ballet, which I took as a kid, to anything in life you wish to explore, I fully believe we should all pursue our passion. Go climb your mountain--and love every minute of it."
The Broadway community has and should continue to stand up to this kind of bullying. All men, women, gender-fluid and gender non-conforming people alike should feel comfortable expressing themselves any way they'd like, primarily through dance. Not only is ballet an extremely healthy way to express oneself, but it is also an extremely difficult workout, helps with balance, spine alignment, strength mentally and physically, endurance, self-control and so much more.
So for all boys and men being criticized by the Lara Spencer's of the world, take pride in what you are doing and don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't do.
Dance on, Prince George.