14 DAY TRIAL // Fox’s “Glee” usually tackles current, sometimes controversial topics but the shooting episode of the other night has managed to cause more controversy than any other. Speaking with The Huffington Post, Lauren Potter’s mother, Robin Sinkhorn, is trying to explain it – and defend it at the same time.
Fans of the show must already know what happens in the episode but, if there still are some of you out there who haven’t seen it, we’ll try not to spoil it for you.
Suffice it to say that it involves Beck Jackson, played by Potter, the only cast member with Down Syndrome, bringing a gun to school.
What happens next is eerily similar to the December tragedy at Newtown, which prompted the superintendent to issue a warning before the episode aired, advising fans to skip it because it might be too traumatic for them.
Sinkhorn explains that, unlike other shooters, Becky doesn’t act the way she does out of hatred for her friends and mates. What she and them do have in common is fear.
“Some of the stuff that Fox is hearing is, ‘Why would Becky be the one to bring the gun to school?’ They're dealing with controversy over that and, ‘Why would you have this on 'Glee' because it's a glee club?’ But I think that's the answer, really. Because it is a high school glee club and it is in the news every day,” she says.
She also believes that producers / writers deciding that Becky would have to go through this placed a vote of confidence on Lauren as an actress.
“The shootings are still fresh in all of our minds. If Becky's going to be fully included on the show – which they've done such a good job about that and giving her these juicy stories – then why not Becky?,” Sinkhorn says.
“Whether she has Down syndrome or not, it doesn't matter... Why wouldn't it be somebody with Down syndrome because she's a kid. She's a teenager. She makes stupid decisions just like other teenagers do,” the actress’ mother adds.
No matter what else Becky would have done, even if she hadn’t brought a gun to school, some people would have still found reason to complain. These days, Sinkhorn muses, you can’t do anything without stepping on a few toes.
The rest of the interview is here.