I think it's just plain old fashioned ignorance, right?

Dunno, to me this just looks like kids who were excited to see a musical starring someone who looked like them for once, and were understandably upset when that didn't happen.

Looks like the students were targeted by alt-right publications for that, too: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/theater/hunchback-of-notr...

Pushing to get a play cancelled (and succeeding!) over a misunderstanding that can be resolved by a 30 second googling is in fact willful ignorance.

>Dunno, to me this just looks like kids who were excited to see a musical starring someone who looked like them, and were understandably upset when that didn't happen.

They started a months-long letter writing and protesting campaign, according to your own NYT link. And the person who started the campaign was African American, not Gypsy. And while most of the Gypsies I met while living in Eastern Europe looked vaguely Middle Eastern or Indian (I realize their actual ancestry is more complicated), there are white Gypsies as well. I have never, however, heard of black Gypsies. I'm sure with immigration to Europe combined with intermarriage there are some now, but the typical Gypsy in France a few centuries ago is not going to be black. So I have no idea what your "someone who looked like them" comment is supposed to mean.

>Looks like the students were targeted by alt-right publications for that, too

Oh no, shitheads on the internet said mean things and a tiny number even made threats! I'm sure you can find examples of that for any controversial news story that makes national headlines, I don't see your point here.