Boycotts Set Up Against “Tropic Thunder”
You're reading Boycotts Set Up Against “Tropic Thunder”, posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 3:08 pm in Movie News, on BrainBloggers at the Welcome To The Movies blog. More after the jump.
Certain groups that help to advocate for the disabled are setting up a national boycott against Ben Stiller’s new comedy “Tropic Thunder”. They believe that the movie gives a negative view of people who have intellectual disabilities.
“We are asking people not to go to the movie and hope to bring a consciousness to people about using derogatory words about this population,” said Peter Wheeler, spokesman for Special Olympics, one of 22 disability groups nationwide protesting the satire. The film was directed by Ben Stiller and will be released Wednesday, August 13th.
The groups plan to picket the movie’s premiere on Monday evening in Los Angeles’s Westwood community. “That will be the start of a nationwide protest,” said Wheeler. “We will continue to be vocal about the destructive effect of this film.”
He went on to say the groups are also offended by the use of the word ‘retard’ that is used regarding certain characters in the movie. Representatives of the Special Olympics, the Arc of the United States, the National Down Syndrome Congress, the American Association of People with Disabilities and other groups met with studio executives last week to discuss the film, but DreamWorks did not make any changes.
Peter Berns, executive director the Arc, said in a memo the groups presented various ideas to the studio, from requesting an apology to fixing the film before its release, to producing a national educational campaign.
Chip Sullivan, a spokesman for DreamWorks said: “We have had productive discussions with representatives of disability advocacy organizations and look forward to working with them closely in the future. However no changes or cuts to the film will be made.