Beyonce Dikecam Pakai Rekaman Suara Tragedi Challenger
Beyonce Slammed for Sampling Shuttle Tragedy on New Album
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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KELUARGA astronot Badan Antariksa Amerika Serikat (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration/NASA) memprotes penggunaan sampel
rekaman pesawat antariksa Challenger dalam lagu Beyonce yang berjudul
"XO".
Single "XO" dibuka dengan sebuah peringatan, sampel rekaman
mantan pejabat hubungan masyarakat NASA Steve Nesbitt yang mengatakan
"Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation.
Obviously a major malfunction".
Sampel itu diambil dari rekaman audio pesawat Challenger yang mengalami kecelakaan hingga menewaskan tujuh awaknya tahun 1986.
Keluarga astronot NASA keberatan sampel rekaman tersebut digunakan dalam sebuah lagu pop, seperti dilansir ABC News.
"Kami
kecewa mengetahui rekaman dari hari ketika kami kehilangan awak
Challenger ada di lagu ´XO´," kata June Scobee Rodgers, janda komandan
Challenger Dick Scobee, kepada ABC.
"Peristiwa yang dimasukkan ke
dalam lagu itu secara emosional sangat sulit bagi keluarga, kolega, dan
teman Challenger. Kami selalu memilih tidak fokus pada bagaimana kami
kehilangan orang yang kami cintai, tapi lebih pada bagaimana mereka
hidup dan kenangan semasa mereka hidup," katanya seperti dilansir laman
LA Times.
Keith Cowing, mantan pekerja NASA yang mengoperasikan laman NASA Watch, juga mengkritik penggunaan sampel rekaman tersebut.
"Pilihan
itu hanya sedikit berbeda dengan mengambil ucapan Walter Cronkite
kepada penonton untuk mengumumkan kematian Presiden Kennedy atau
panggilan 911 dari serangan World Trade Center lalu menggunakannya di
lagu pop," katanya.
Dalam pernyataan kepada ABC, Beyonce
menanggapi keberatan itu dengan menyampaikan alasan dia, juga produser
dan penulis lagu Ryan Tedder dan The Dream, menggunakan sampel rekaman
itu. "Saya berbela sungkawa untuk keluarga peristiwa Challenger. Lagu
´XO´ direkam dengan niat baik untuk membantu memulihkan mereka yang
kehilangan orang-orang yang disayangi dan mengingatkan kita bahwa
hal-hal tidak terduga terjadi. Jadi, cintai dan hargai lah tiap menit
bersama orang-orang yang berarti bagi kalian," kata Beyonce.
"Penulis memasukkan rekaman sebagai bentuk penghargaan kepada kru Challenger dengan harapan mereka tidak akan pernah dilupakan."
BEYONCE has been labeled "insensitive" by some current and former NASA astronauts and their families for sampling audio from the space shuttle Challenger disaster for a love song off her newly released album.
Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center Jan. 28, 1986. All seven crewmembers aboard were killed.
"Flight controllers here looking very carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction," now-retired NASA public affairs officer Steve Nesbitt said as the nation watched wreckage fall toward the ocean on live television.
Twenty-seven years later, Nesbitt´s voice is heard at the beginning of the video for Beyoncé´s new song "XO," about a troubled relationship. The singer has said that "XO" was written and produced by Ryan Tedder and Terius Nash, who goes by the stage name The Dream.
The audio clip is short, lasting six seconds.
But former and current NASA astronauts, employees and Challenger family members argue that using it in a pop song mocks the crew´s sacrifice and opens fresh wounds.
June Scobee Rodgers, the widow of Challenger Space Shuttle Commander Dick Scobee and a founder of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, told ABC News she is "disappointed" in the singer´s decision to include the clip.
"We were disappointed to learn that an audio clip from the day we lost our heroic Challenger crew was used in the song ´XO,´" she said. "The moment included in this song is an emotionally difficult one for the Challenger families, colleagues and friends. We have always chosen to focus not on how our loved ones were lost, but rather on how they lived and how their legacy lives on today."
Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee who now runs the NASAWatch.com website, said, "This choice of historic and solemn audio is inappropriate in the extreme. The choice is little different than taking Walter Cronkite´s words to viewers announcing the death of President Kennedy or 911 calls from the World Trade Center attack and using them for shock value in a pop tune."
Cowing wants Beyoncé to remove the clip and apologize to families of the Challenger crew.
Beyonce, in an exclusive statement to ABC News this morning, said, "My heart goes out to the families of those lost in the Challenger disaster. The song ´XO´ was recorded with the sincerest intention to help heal those who have lost loved ones and to remind us that unexpected things happen, so love and appreciate every minute that you have with those who mean the most to you.
"The songwriters included the audio in tribute to the unselfish work of the Challenger crew with hope that they will never be forgotten."
