Gary Dunning and Nicole Taney of the Celebrity Series of Boston: Two people who don't object to the mocking of the disabled

Saturday 4/5/25

Just entering this into the record.

David Sedaris, mocker of disabled people who believes they shouldn't have jobs if he has to interact with them and should instead stay home journaling about how lacking their lives are--those are his words, not me trying to recast them--has an event at Symphony Hall in Boston's Celebrity Series tomorrow.

Gary Dunning is the president and executive officer of Boston's Celebrity Series, and Nicole Taney is the artistic director.

They were made aware of this yesterday in the following email, though they may have known since late January, which was when a Celebrity Series publicist knew.

Wanted to share the following with you

https://www.colinfleminglit.com/post/everything-wrong-with-publishing-no-talent-horrible-men-like-david-sedaris-who-mock-the-disabled-a

so that you're on record as being aware and, should the event go ahead, identifiable as being okay with that.

There was no response. The email was seen and shared by a number of parties in multiple time zones. I'd imagine that legal was involved, and the advice from that department was, "Don't say anything back about this," because there's nothing that can be said in terms of defense or disavowal, the latter of which would of course be a tacit admission.

You couldn't write anything back to that email without appearing to support mocking the disabled. There's no saying, "It's not that bad," "Or it was in the past," or "Well, it's out of character"--and it isn't, if you look at this man's actual writing and prevailing tonalities.

All a person can do--a bad person, like these two people, who countenance the mocking of the disabled--is hope that nothing happens, that no one finds out, or that not enough people find out.

Say, in effect, "Well, this is just one guy out there...granted he's not just some guy, but he doesn't have big numbers with him, we'll just ignore it, we'll probably be fine."

If they had gauged that many others knew about this--like if it was shared by someone with a large social media following--I'm sure the event would be called off and a very vocal distancing from someone like this would have been made.

Such people make such determinations based on what they think they can get away with; if no one will be the wiser, they'll proceed. If there's going to be a backlash--which is a matter of volume of people, not an objection on the part of such people to disgusting behavior and attitudes--they'll seek to appease and then apologize and say, "We weren't aware, we wish to promote a healthy environment where all feel welcome," etc.

We've all heard it many times.

But I can at least put this in a public dossier for now, because things do change, and when they do, other things have a knack for coming due.

I am certain that Gary Dunning and Nicole Taney don't read this tiny, pathetic, myopic, cruel man's writings and think he's some brilliant artist. It's all about going along with what you're supposed to think, without ever looking, listening, seeing, reading.

What am I supposed to say? What am I supposed to think? This person is great because that's the official policy when it comes to how it's supposed to be.

We see this over and over and over in these pages. When we apply a trace of light to the actual work--or the moral character of the person who made it--we reveal that which nobody can deny.

Crickets.

Very little is real and done for the right reasons, like what the work really is when it's actually looked at and honestly assessed; who someone really is; what is really offered by the one or other or both.

But you--and you in particular, Boston--should know that Gary Dunning and Nicole Taney are really okay with someone demeaning the disabled, which in my book--and probably yours, too, if you're a moral person--is really the same as being okay with demeaning the disabled yourself.