Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder pic might receive a boycott. And surprisingly not from black people (Robert Downey Jr. plays his role in blackface).
Stiller plays an actor that starred in a movie called Simple Jack in which he played a developmentally disabled dude in hopes for an Oscar. And he gets taunted throughout the film with the word "retard."
So, as you can imagine, the dude who runs the Special Olympics is annoyed.
"We will continue to be vocal about the destructive effect of this film. 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," Peter Wheeler says.
"It's sort of edgy territory, but we felt that as long as the focus was on the actors who were trying to do something to be taken seriously that's going too far or wrong, that was where the humor would come from," Stiller insisted. "[The joke is on] actors reaching for roles in terms of hopefully winning awards."
Good luck with that, Simple Jack. Can we boycott fat Tom Cruise?
Check out all 20+ photos of Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor from the premiere of Tropic Thunder in the gallery!
Stiller plays an actor that starred in a movie called Simple Jack in which he played a developmentally disabled dude in hopes for an Oscar. And he gets taunted throughout the film with the word "retard."
So, as you can imagine, the dude who runs the Special Olympics is annoyed.
"We will continue to be vocal about the destructive effect of this film. 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," Peter Wheeler says.
"It's sort of edgy territory, but we felt that as long as the focus was on the actors who were trying to do something to be taken seriously that's going too far or wrong, that was where the humor would come from," Stiller insisted. "[The joke is on] actors reaching for roles in terms of hopefully winning awards."
Good luck with that, Simple Jack. Can we boycott fat Tom Cruise?
Check out all 20+ photos of Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor from the premiere of Tropic Thunder in the gallery!
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Website: www.gettyimages.com
Skrpune says:
oh geez, enough about the "controversy" in this movie already! From what I understand, it's being taken totally out of context. This movie is making fun of Hollywood & actors & their idiocy, NOT of people with disabilities.
If there's a character in a comedic movie that's a bigot and uses racist words, does that make the movie itself racist? If the answer is yes, then I guess All In The Family should also no longer be shown in reruns & should be boycotted too...
Theresa says:
To exploit people with disabilities in an effort to demonstrate the wrongness of exploitation of people with disabilities seems contrary at best. It is as though Ben Stiller is saying that it is wrong for Hollywood to do this, but it is OK for him to do this. Not a strong argument, really.