Students Start Petition To Prevent Big Sean From Performing

It was announced at the end of March that Big Sean would be performing at Princeton’s yearly Lawnparties event, but some students aren’t happy with the decision. As a matter of fact, they are so unhappy with it that they are starting a petition to prevent Big Sean from performing at their school.

BREAKING: Alus, Luke Christopher, Big Sean announced as Lawnparties main acts. @princetonian

— Lorenzo Quiogue (@lorenzo_quiogue) April 1, 2015

According to the Daily Princetonian, two undergraduate students took to social media to start a petition to rescind the offer to perform to Big Sean.

“The petition alleges that Big Sean promotes rape culture and misogyny in his lyrics.”

The Undergraduate Student Government, who is responsible for the Lawnparties and finding performers, have promoted the event using Big Sean’s song, “IDFWU” which has the phrase “stupid ass b*tch” in it repeatedly. And that is exactly why the petition was started to begin with.

Duncan Hosie told the Daily Princetonian, “After I saw that video, I started researching Big Sean’s language and I found language that was both misogynistic and homophobic. We wrote an op-ed piece that we published on Google Docs [on Sunday] and wanted to see the number of supporters. Right now, close to 500 people have signed.”

Hosie shared that other students share his opinion, with some hanging posters “around campus containing sexually explicit Big Sean lyrics, intended to urge students to protest the selection of Big Sean.”

While many students do appear to be happy at the choice of the Dark Sky Paradise rapper, some have also been quick to point out that it’s not just Big Sean’s words, but also his actions in the past that make him a less than savory choice for their Lawnparties performer.

Writers for the Columbia Spectator pointed out that, “Big Sean has been arrested and charged with sexual assault…and his lyrics clearly objectify and degrade women.”

Back in 2011, Big Sean was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl after one of his concerts.

According to Billboard, Big Sean “accepted a plea deal for a misdemeanor count of unlawful imprisonment…the third degree sex abuse and forcible touching charges were dropped.”

While his lyrics and his past actions have many people concerned, Princeton’s student government has said that they were just trying to give students what they wanted.

USG President, Ella Chang, said, “[Big Sean was selected] as a response to campus sentiment for more famous acts in addition to [acts of] high quality.”

While it’s possible that many could dispute what “high quality” is and if Big Sean fits that, one thing you can be sure of is the petition to have him removed as the Lawnparties performer isn’t going anywhere just yet.

[Photo Courtesy of Big Sean/Flickr]