1 of 3 | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis hold the four Grammy Awards they won including Best New Artist and Best Rap Song, at the 56th annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles on January 26, 2014. Photo by Phil McCarten/UPI |
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A California high school has successfully brought back a scheduled Macklemore and Ryan Lewis charity event after school administration shut it down.
Students at Aliso Niguel High School won the "Chegg + Macklemore & Ryan Lewis" contest in early October, but were soon notified due to parent concerns the school would decline a $10,000 arts donation from the textbook rental company and cancel the accompanying panel discussion involving the two artists.
According to reports, a handful of parents disapproved of the artists' lyrics and claimed they supported drug-use and misogyny.
After a considerable social media campaign created by students, however, and Change.org petition that gained over 6,000 signatures in less than 24 hours, the school's principal Deni Christensen notified students the show will be reinstated.
"After careful consideration of varying viewpoints on all sides of the issue surrounding a possible visit by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, it is my hope that we have developed a plan that will meet the needs of our diverse students," said Christensen in a statement.
"In recognition of our students' efforts in winning this contest, and a desire to provide students the option of hearing a presentation regarding the music industry, the importance of music education and the arts, along with a Q&A session with the two artists, we will be holding this event after school hours in December."
Students are now required to turn in a signed permission slip in order to attend the event, part of Chegg's #CheggMusic101 series.
The textbook rental company confirmed the news in a press release, saying the event "will go as planned," after the administrative controversy.
"The students of Aliso Niguel won the opportunity to have Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on their campus through the CheggMusic101 series," said Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig in the release. "We have a lot of admiration for these students: they beat every other high school and college in the country for the right to host this event and along with the artists, their administration, faculty, parents and community rallied around a positive message to create a great outcome."
