Legendary folksinger Peter Yarrow dropped from Colorscape Festival over 1969 incident involving underage girls
Iconic folk singer and songwriter Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, has been dropped from an upcoming concert venue because a criminal act involving two young girls back in 1969 came back to bite him.
Yarrow was sentenced to three months in jail over a 1969 episode in which the 14-year-old and her 17-year-old sister went to his hotel seeking an autograph and he answered the door naked. Former President Jimmy Carter pardoned Yarrow in 1981. ~ ABC News
Yarrow served his three-month jail sentence in 1970.
The 81-year-old “Puff the Magic Dragon” folksinger was scheduled to appear at the Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival in upstate New York on September 8. But a committee overseeing that venue cited negative social media reactions to Yarrow’s appearance at that venue – because of his criminal history – as the justification for dropping him from the concert’s lineup.
On July 2, the Colorscape Chenango Arts Festival issued the following statement to the nonprofit’s Facebook page:
Please note that there will be a change to the Colorscape Main Stage lineup this year: Folk music legend Peter Yarrow will not be joining us. When booking this artist we were not aware of news stories about an incident involving Yarrow in 1970. Some members of our community expressed concern, and after further investigation and careful consideration, the decision was made to remove Yarrow from the music schedule. We look forward to announcing a new performer to complete our Main Stage lineup, so please stay tuned. — Melissa DeCordova, Board President
The remorseful Yarrow apologized for his 50-year-old “indiscretion” some time back.
Yarrow, for his part, admitted he made a huge mistake and later contritely said, “It was an era of real indiscretion and mistakes by categorically male performers. I was one of them. I got nailed. I was wrong. I’m sorry for it.” ~ CNN
“A representative for Yarrow says the singer accepts the decision,” according to a statement quoted in an MSN report.
In 2010, Yarrow went live on CBS TV with his world debut of “The Colonoscopy Song,” a health message to viewers stating and singing that “getting a regular colonoscopy saves lives.”
~ Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
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