Celebrity Disaster

Roger Daltrey, Left, and Pete Townshend, Right (2008)

If you're like me, and I believe that I am like me, then you want the Superbowl over already. I'm not invested in the game; I just want to watch it, enjoy it, have some peanuts and some crackers and cheese, and get it over with.

Pete Townshend probably wants it over with as well:

The Who gave an energetic, acoustic preview of Sunday's Super Bowl halftime show Thursday- but things turned serious when Pete Townshend defended himself against some children's advocates who say he should not be performing.

"I've been really saddened by it, and concerned about it. It's an issue that's very difficult to deal with in sound bites," the legendary guitarist said at an NFL news conference dedicated to the Super Bowl's entertainers, including Carrie Underwood and Queen Latifah.

"I kind of feel like we're all on the same side, I guess that's all I can really say," he said.

Townshend was arrested in 2003 in Britain as part of a child pornography sting but later cleared. He accessed a Web site containing child pornography but said it was for research for his own campaign against child porn. He was required to register as a sex offender, despite being cleared.

Because of that, groups like Protect Our Children have protested the choice of The Who, the legendary group featuring Townshend and Roger Daltrey.

But Townshend said he has been a children's advocate for decades and alluded to his own confession of being abused as a child.

"For a family that has suffered the issue of childhood abuse or anything of that sort, vigilance, common sense vigilance is the most important thing, not vigilantism," he said. "Anybody that has any doubts about whether I should be here or not should investigate a little bit further."

I've already said--if the law says Townshend has to register, fine and dandy. He has to register. He should be treated like everyone else.

It's not clear to me now, however, that he even has to register in this country. We used to have a thing where if you have paid your debt to society, then that's all well and good. Townshend is in perfect legal standing with the authorities in Britain; why does that then mean he cannot perform here in this country?