DuracellEnergizer said:

Of course the PT can be ignored. The question is if it will be ignored.

Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, no PT characters/events/storylines/etc. should ever be overtly mentioned or alluded to. I wouldn't mind seeing some PT species or planets show up, but anything more than that is anathema.

Would that really be so bad, though? The OT mentioned the Clone Wars, Anakin's fall to the dark side, Padme (though not by name), etc. I see no problem with the ST acknowledging characters and events from the PT. Some people hate the PT and like to ignore it, I get that. So when you watch the ST, you can just pretend the references to the PT are just backstory (like in the OT).