Protests at Tropic Thunder premiere
August 13th 2008 02:23
Protesters from several mental disability groups have picketed the theatre that hosted the premiere of Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise's new movie Tropic Thunder, due to the liberal use of the word "retard" in the film.
"If you want to pick on people, as the old playground saying goes, pick on people your own size," said Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, who is calling for a boycott of the new Dreamworks flick. "This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We're sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable."
In the film, Stiller plays a fame-hungry actor who previously played a mentally disabled man, and is forced to re-enact the scenes from that film when he's captured by Asian drug lords. Apparently the movie is heavy in dark humour that mocks the mentally disabled, aside from the hateful slurs within the script.
Despite the fact that there were several dozen protesters, Dreamworks promoters were well-prepared for an uproar and placed 10-foot-high shrubs on the edge of the normally open red carpet, thus preventing the protesters from appearing in the background of the publicity shots.
"If you want to pick on people, as the old playground saying goes, pick on people your own size," said Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, who is calling for a boycott of the new Dreamworks flick. "This population struggles too much with the basics to have to struggle against Hollywood. We're sending a message that this hate speech is no longer acceptable."
In the film, Stiller plays a fame-hungry actor who previously played a mentally disabled man, and is forced to re-enact the scenes from that film when he's captured by Asian drug lords. Apparently the movie is heavy in dark humour that mocks the mentally disabled, aside from the hateful slurs within the script.
Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise at the controversial film's premiere
Despite the fact that there were several dozen protesters, Dreamworks promoters were well-prepared for an uproar and placed 10-foot-high shrubs on the edge of the normally open red carpet, thus preventing the protesters from appearing in the background of the publicity shots.
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