Disney Kicks Barenaked Ladies to the Curb

Don’t mess with Disney. Disney can come down on you like a fire-and-brimstone preacher looking to cast out souls when you get on their bad side. They know what the pulse of America’s white picket fences likes and dislikes; and what it certainly dislikes is entertainers with recent drug arrests. So when the lead singer of Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page (mug shot above), was arrested on cocaine possession in Syracuse, NY this month, the band removed itself (the most appropriate term I can think of — it’s like a corporate executive stating they “resigned”) from the Disney Music Block Party tour.

The Disney tour, which consists of other user-friendly bands like They Might Be Giants, was geared towards families and their children. As if any of the children attending read the police blotters of Syracuse and ask “Mommy, what’s cocaine possession?” (and, as if, they even know who Steven Page is), the band was quickly considered persona non grata. Even as an objective observer, it makes you want to jump out of a Norman Rockwell painting and puke. I’m no fan of Barenaked Ladies (Hell! Their name is too suggestive as it is!) but the band got a bad break. After all, even Steven Page is innocent until proven guilty, right? Well… obviously not in the Wonderful World of Disney.