Gloria Gaynor misses an opportunity?

Last Saturday I posted Will APRA Survive?, a post that discussed the possible negative backlash to the Australasian Performing Right Association's copyright objections to Jane Korman's viral video (which shows Korman's grandfather and various grandkids dancing to Gaynor's "I Will Survive" - at Auschwitz).

For someone like Gaynor who continues to work in the industry, this would provide a wonderful opportunity for self-promotion. If handled correctly, she could issue a public statement saying that she was "delighted" with the video and its message of overcoming obstacles that most of us will never face.

Or, if she were so inclined, she could issue a public statement saying that she was "devastated" by the video and that, while she understands Korman's sentiments, the subject is just too painful for other survivors to see.

So to see what Gaynor actually did say, I went to the news page on her website and found her latest news release:

Ferring Pharmaceuticals Announces Disco Icon Gloria Gaynor as National Spokesperson for EUFLEXXA®
May 24, 2010

Ferring Pharmaceuticals Announces Gloria Gaynor as National Spokesperson for Euflexxa.

Please visit www.gloriasknee.com


Click Here to read the press release for further details.

If she could, I'm sure that Gloria would be kicking herself over the missed opportunity.

To be serious for a moment, Gaynor's website does include a realization of how the words "I Will Survive" have touched people, and she has included some words of encouragement on her site. Gaynor is not Jewish (she is Christian), but one of the words on this page may be relevant to someone like Jane Korman's grandfather who was wronged by others:

To forgive does not mean to excuse a person for wrong-doing; it simply means you stop wanting them to pay, and start wanting them simply to realize and repent of the wrong, for their own good. This is why you need God's help to forgive.

On the other hand, I can imagine Hitler's reaction if he were to find out that a Jew not only survived Auschwitz, but returned to the site to dance to the song of a black woman. "Everyone who ever owned a disco record, leave the room now."