Updated 8:26 a.m.
ALISO VIEJO – Many Aliso Niguel High School students and parents were outraged to find out Monday night that the school had reportedly declined a visit from hip hop music superstars Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and a $10,000 grant for the music department.
Students found out Oct. 7 they had won the “Chegg + Macklemore & Ryan Lewis” contest, which required students to register on chegg.com, a textbook sales and rental website. Students say Principal Deni Christensen notified them Monday that the school had declined the prize because some parents said that Macklemore and Ryan Lewis support alcohol and drug use and misogyny in their music.
Christensen has not yet returned calls for comment.
Quinn Darling, Aliso Niguel Associated Student Body vice president, used social media to push his classmates to enter the contest on Sept. 22, a day before it was set to finish. Darling and his friends took to social media again Monday to protest.
A petition to reverse the decision on change.org was posted at 8 p.m. Monday and had garnered 2,750 signatures by early Tuesday morning.
“The one thing my peers, our parents and I want to convey is that we deserve a fair say in these decisions,” Darling said. “The ultimate decision was never publicized to parents or us, so even though six or however many parents who were initially against (the visit), there are maybe 300 parents who would’ve supported it.”
Another Aliso Niguel student shared one of Darling’s comments via Twitter, to which Macklemore responded.
Quinn said the Associated Student Body had picked a date for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to visit, Dec. 17, and were already planning how to utilize the school’s gym to allow the greatest number of students to participate in the question and answer session with the musicians.
Contact the writer: 949-667-1933, cyee@ocregister.com and @ChrisMYee on Twitter
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