The Whiffenpoofs received a write-off for their performance on “The Sing-Off.” National Public Radio’s pop culture blogger Linda Holmes called the Whiffenpoofs the villains of the a cappella competition that premiered last night on NBC.
The Whiffenpoof backlash arose from a comment Stefan Weijola’s, ’11 made during a montage video introducing the ensemble.
“We are the first a cappella group in history,” he said. “We invented it.”
Holmes wrote:
The Whiffenpoofs, rather than attempting (in vain, undoubtedly) to escape the potential Ivy-League-snootiness issue, embrace it. Their official uniform is white tie, and they were clear from the beginning that although everyone else was expected to be good, expectations would be especially high for them. You know, because they invented a cappella singing.
In an earlier interview with the News Whiffenpoof Daniel Turcza ‘11 noted that The Sing-Off’s producers “were pretty obvious about the image that they had in store for us and there wasn’t much we could do portray ourselves differently, which was obnoxious.”
Despite the criticism, the Whiffenpoofs did advance to the next round of the competition, which will air Wednesday night at 8 p.m.