[jweston]

I was there and I found the profanity unfortunate but had conflicting emotions about it. The reason I find it unfortunate is it distracts from what we should celebrating, the whole sentiment of what will.i.am said: being in FIRST is awesome.

Please recognize there were people in the audience from many, many cultures. Some of them do find the language offensive. Of course, there were others that find the expression truly speaks to them. Not talking about the people who enjoyed the shock value of it but those who identify with the culture. That's why I am conflicted about it.

I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that teens do not often use profanity in private. It sometimes crops up in our workshop in the heat of the moment although we discourage it. But there were also many age groups of a large variety of backgrounds in the audience, some of which would find profanity disrepectful.

Like others have said, it felt premeditated and a bit like pandering to me. I can't see into will.i.am's head so I couldn't tell you if my feeling is correct. I guess it's the GP part that bothers me. It's wrong if it was premeditated and done simply for shock value. If it was done in the heat of the moment, I can forgive that and still find it unfortunate for those who felt disrespected. If it was done to connect to students who find it part of their culture, that's where it gets complicated.