The Sandy Hook Elementary School choir will be performing Carly Rae Jepsen's hit song "Call Me Maybe" at Sunday night's Grammy Awards ceremony, two weeks after their Super Bowl performance in which they performed "America the Beautiful."
The choir has been in demand since
the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, including 20 children. The shooter, 20-year-old
Adam Lanza, then took his own life.
Some are criticizing the decision to have the choir perform the catchy, Grammy-nominated song as exploitative, considering their previous performances have been patriotic and, in wake of the tragedy, should continue to be.
"The 'Call Me Maybe' performance isn't really about the kids. It's not about healing, it's not about happy memories, it's not about music. It's about ratings. For E!, the rest are all just excuses and happy side effects. So let's turn off the cameras and give Newtown some room to breathe,"
Hollywood.com's Abbey Stone wrote in a column on Wednesday.
Music producer Tim Hayes, who co-produced a recent Sandy Hook choir recording of "Over the Rainbow," agreed.
"We know the kids involved have had a wonderful experience, but we think this chapter is now done, and we want these kids to get back to being kids," Hayes told The Associated Press.
Sabrina Post, Sandy Hook's choir teacher, defended the decision to sing "Call Me Maybe," arguing the appearance will help the community heal.
"This opportunity to do something positive lets the kids know that although a lot of things happen in our world that are not pleasant, like this that happened with us in Newtown, there are many giving people and wonderful things that can come out of life, so don’t get discouraged. It teaches them to use their gifts to work through things,” Post said.
In addition to their "America the Beautiful" Super Bowl performance with singer Jennifer Hudson, the 21 choir students also performed "Silent Night" on "Saturday Night Live," and "Over the Rainbow" on ABC's "Good Morning America."
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