But not in a good way.
The summer movie starring Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. premiered in Los Angeles a couple of days ago, but the flick which is supposed to elicit laughs from its high profile comedic actors is instead drawing ire from the American Association of People with Disabilities.
Dozens of representatives from the American Association of People with Disabilities and the Special Olympics joined forces Monday night to protest the movie for what they consider is its blatant degradation of intellectually challenged individuals.
The protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Call me by my name, not by my label” and chanted phrases like “Ban the movie, ban the word.”
One of the words the protesters want banned is “retard.”
A representative from the Special Olympics expressed shock when he learned how many times the word is used in the movie (and in its promotional material).
“I cannot believe a writer could write something like that,” the rep told news reporters. “It’s the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don’t like the word ‘retard.’ We are people.”
The groups are also reportedly outraged by scenes that depict the mentally disabled as second-class citizens. In the movie, director and co-star Stiller plays a glory-hungry actor cast in a war movie who previously had a role as a mentally disabled character named Simple Jack.
For his part Stiller maintains that he stands by all of the scenes that made the final cut. As for co-star Downey he told reporters, “I think it’s open to interpretation and that’s the great thing. You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that’s my right as an American, and it’s also any artist’s right to say and do whatever they wanna do.”
Downey’s remark didn’t sit well with Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, who viewed the movie morning. Imparato called the movie “tasteless” and said it was “offensive start to finish.”
“I have a sense of humor,” said Imparato. “There were parts of the movie where I laughed, but it seems to me that the movie tried really hard to go too far and then pull back on everything that was offensive except the issue of people with intellectual disabilities. I just think Ben Stiller and the people involved in this movie just didn’t think it was going to be offensive.”
Timothy Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics is not so eager to give Stiller a bye in all of this. The brother of TV journalist Maria Shriver is calling for a boycott of “Tropic Thunder” saying that it is about time the world sent a message to Hollywood that “this hate speech is no longer acceptable.”
What do you make of the controversy? Do you think the word “retard” falls into the “hate speech” category?