Back in February, we brought you the news that America's Got Talent was coming to the Mahaffey Theater for auditions and a live taping of the show.
On Monday night, the episode aired, but failed to mention anything about St. Petersburg where these on-stage auditions actually took place.
In fairness, the show's producers highlighted Tampa, which hosted a prior set of auditions back in November, but ignored St. Pete aside from a b-roll shot of the Salvador Dali Museum only someone familiar with the city would recognize. Shots of the Tampa skyline, graphics all mentioning Tampa, and Nick Cannon rallying a crowd in front of a Tampa Fire Rescue truck were all displayed throughout Monday night's episode.
Naturally, St. Petersburg city officials are less than thrilled. Mayor Bill Foster expressed his disappointment to the Tampa Bay Times earlier this week. Mahaffey Theater general manager Joe Santiago also echoed the same sentiment, but says they did nothing that breached their initial contract with the St. Pete theater.
"They cannot say that we are here in Tampa if they are standing in St. Petersburg. They upheld the contract from that standpoint," said Santiago in the same Tampa Bay Times article that quoted Foster.
There's some hope, though. More clips from the St. Petersburg auditions are set to air on Tuesday, June 12 and Santiago is currently negotiating for a St. Petersburg mention to be included in the episode.
Here's to America's Got Talent giving some recognition this wonderful, vibrant city of ours.
