SF MOMA/Thomas Hawk Drama Continues for No Good Reason
God, this story needs to die.
If you recall, local blogger Thomas Hawk threw a temper tantrum after being tossed out of SF MOMA for taking shots of some girl's tit, or a daring piece of wire hangers, or whatever. Now Hawk is doing everything to get Simon Blint, the SF MOMA employee who had Hawk remove, fired because of a bruised ego.
Incorrectly using "OMG, CENSORSHIP!" as his battle cry, many on the webs agree with Hawk, demanding Blint's head on a platter. ("I will not be frequenting your museum again until I find out Mr Simon Blint has been fired," whines one fool. Which? Good. More room for the rest of us.)
Point being? We would hate to see SF MOMA kowtow to such demands. (Blint isn't speaking to any press and pretty upset, we're told.) Do NOT fire the guy, SF MOMA. Just let it go. At least that's what we think. What say you?
For SF MOMA's response to the nonsense, follow the jump.
SFMOMA Responds to August 8 IncidentLast Friday an incident occurred in our museum in which a visitor was asked to leave the building. We stand firmly behind the actions of our director of visitor services, who acted appropriately to ensure the safety of the museum's admissions staff. He took measures to protect another staff member who according to witnesses on our staff and among the general public was being photographed in an inappropriate and harassing manner. SFMOMA welcomes over 600,000 visitors annually; disputes and disagreements between our guests and our staff very rarely occur.
This was not an issue relating to the museum's official photography policy. In fact, SFMOMA recently made a policy change to allow photographers to take pictures of the permanent collection, the architecture of the building, and the museum's public spaces.
We have heard the concerns that have been expressed, and we hope that online discussion concerning SFMOMA can now return to focus on the terrific exhibitions we currently have on view and the many exciting public programs that we are offering to support them. We thank you for your comments.
Department of Communications
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art