Penn State homecoming video blurs out Joe Paterno's name
Penn State will be celebrating homecoming this weekend when No. 24 Northwestern comes to Beaver Stadium for an early afternoon kickoff. A huge crowd is expected to be on hand for the first homecoming since the unfortunate sequence of events that unfolded last November that led to the forced removal of head coach Joe Paterno. Since then, of course, the statue of Paterno was removed from its spot outside of Beaver Stadium, not without controversy of course, and the public relations battles between the university and Paterno family in the aftermath has been nothing short of ugly, and at times unnecessary.
With homecoming set for this weekend though Penn State is encouraging many to get reacquainted with Penn State and their family. To many, Penn State is a generational connection within the the family tree, which appears to be the point of this new brief video advertisement that shows a grandson grabbing a Penn State book from the top of the fireplace to read with his grandmother.
It is a sweet and innocent visual, so what could possibly be upsetting so many within the Penn State community? How about the fact that the book is about Paterno and the name "Joe" has been blurred out from the video.
Check out the short video below to see what all the fuss is about...
The book on top of the mantle is Quotable Joe: Words of Wisdom by and about Joe Paterno, College Football's Coaching Icon
UPDATE: The Penn State Homecoming Twitter account confirms this was a licensing issue.
Due to licensing issues, we are unable to promote products that are not owned by Penn State Homecoming in any of our promotional material.
— PSU Homecoming (@PSUHOMECOMING) October 2, 2012
I don't think the video was designed to make a shot at Paterno, nor do I believe there was any ill intentions behind the selection of the prop. But it does leave you scratching your head wondering just what the heck they were thinking. If nothing else, this is another example of a decision being made by Penn State that requires otherwise unnecessary damage control to some extent.
Kevin McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com and host of the No 2-Minute Warning podcast. Follow him on Twitter, Google+and Facebook.
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Why did they blur it out when it was on the mantle,but not when the kid sits down and opens the book exposing the front cover which is much larger than the side of the book...makes NO since
did anyone else notice that you can see the name "Joe" once the two are sitting on the couch???
@KevinOnCFB This has been discussed all afternoon. Did you check with @PSUHOMECOMING for their response before posting? cc: @MattShanes
@map408psu @PSUHOMECOMING @MattShanes Regardless of rights to name, still a poor choice of prop given circumstances.
@KevinOnCFB I don't disagree it was ill-advised, but not posting HC's response and explanation is also ill-advised -- and irresponsible.
@KevinOnCFB @map408psu @PSUHOMECOMING Worth nothing @ScottPaterno's response too where he says he would have given permission had they asked
@map408psu The @PSUHOMECOMING response was not available at the time that story was posted. It will be added.
@map408psu @PSUHOMECOMING @MattShanes I had posted that story earlier in the afternoon, just RTing for evening crowd. Mentioned rights issue
