PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is blaming himself for a flap that led to a song being scrapped from a program honoring Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai.
Malala was in Philadelphia last week to receive the Liberty Medal.
At the event, the National Constitution Center had agreed to play a music video by the 14-year-old daughter of a former donor to Rendell campaigns. In the video, the girl sings about how lucky she is to live in America, “where the kids are safe.”
Center officials say they agreed with Malala’s advisers the song did not fit “the austerity of the event.”
Rendell says he should have realized the song could seem culturally insensitive.
Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban over her support of girls’ education and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
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