About a month ago, we reported on Rock NYC that some children’s advocate groups were trying to get the NFL to reconsider their decision to have British rock legends The Who perform at halftime during the Super Bowl.
The reason for their protests stemmed from a 2003 child pornography sting in Britain that resulted in the groups guitarist and songwriter, Pete Townshend being arrested for accessing a child pornography website. Claiming to be doing research for his own campaign against child pornography and abuse, Pete was cleared of all charges, given a stern warning, and ordered to register himself as a sex offender in exchange for the leniency.
Yesterday, Townshend and Roger Daltrey gave an acoustic preview of their halftime set during an NFL news conference dedicated to the Super Bowl’s entertainers, and the issue came up yet again.Townshend was eager to state his point of view on the global media stage…“I’ve been really saddened by it, and concerned about it. It’s an issue that’s very difficult to deal with in sound bites,
“I kind of feel like we’re all on the same side, I guess that’s all I can really say,” he said.
This next quote bit back a little harder-
“For a family that has suffered the issue of childhood abuse or anything of that sort, vigilance, common sense vigilance is the most important thing, not vigilantism,” he said. “Anybody that has any doubts about whether I should be here or not should investigate a little bit further.”