The Kiss Cam has long been a staple at sporting events – and a last ditch effort of men (and women) trying to escape the friend zone – but Syracuse College is pulling the PDA-pusher from its sporting events after a letter to the editor questioned just how innocent it is.
“During the kiss cam break at the Syracuse game last weekend I saw some horrifying behavior that was met with cheers and applause from the crowd. It made me sick to my stomach” wrote Steve Port of Manilus, New York.
Port said he witnessed two women on the cam who indicated they did not want to be kissed, but the two men next to them leaned over and planted one on them anyways. Port claimed the nature of the Kiss Cam and the pressure to give a peck, “condone sexual assault and a sense of male entitlement.”
Following the letter, syracuse.com reported that SU Athletics and sponsor POMCO pulled the Kiss Cam from last week’s games, pending further evaluation of the concerns raised.
It wasn’t just local town criers and anxious college students who raised their voices about the absence of the Kiss Cam – Fox & Friends First, NBC Nightly News and the Associated Press joined in the conversation too, asking ‘to kiss or not to kiss?’
The Daily Orange, Syracuse’s student newspaper, suggested the Kiss Cam be brought back, but with one rule: “[It] should never be used on the student section when operators are looking for a couple to feature, as doing so creates chance for risk on multiple levels.”
Despite the concerns, there have been many memorable Kiss Cam moments, like when former President Jimmy Carter was lovingly caught on the Kiss Cam with his wife, or when Syracuse’s cheerleaders surprised ESPN sportscasters Sean McDonough and Jay Bilas during a 2010 basketball game.
Is the concern over the Kiss Cam merited, or just political correctness and over-sensitivity gone too far?
