If you’re getting ready to see TROPIC THUNDER this week (and you damn well should be), get ready to nudge past some picketers on your way to the theater lobby. After some brouhaha last week about “Simple Jack” (a movie within TROPIC THUNDER), a coalition of disabilities groups announced this weekend a nationwide protest of THUNDER. Executives from the National Down Syndrome Coalition saw a screening of the film on Thursday and executive director David C. Tolleson said, “I came out feeling like I had been assaulted.” Well I felt that way as well but only because my stomach hurt from laughing so hard. I’m guessing Mr. Tolleson wasn’t hurting for the same reason. In addition the chairman of the Special Olympics is trying to use this platform to get Congress to pass legislation that would have use of the word “retard” considered hate speech. But one of the groups protesting – ARC, the Association for Retarded Citizens – has “retard” in its title. Odd, I know. Lucky for us the removal of the “Simple Jack” website is about as far as DreamWorks and Paramount are willing to go. DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan (a good guy) said, “No changes or cuts to the film will be made.” You tell ’em Chip! How anyone can see this movie and think that it’s poking fun at retarded disabled people and not at the actors who are so self-absorbed to think that using those disabilities for their own gain is a good idea. But I digress. Censorship sucks and it’s ridiculous that people still think they can get away with it through political muscle. Congratulations DreamWorks/Paramount for not backing down.
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What’s Not Allowed