05-06-2004, 03:02 AM
Quote:I'll agree with Galt on this one. Disney has done stuff like this in the past. They pulled Ellen from ABC cause they didn't want to upset all the Southern Baptists. They are terrified of alienating people with controversial programming.I think a better example might be the movie The Quiet American. Never heard of it? Exactly.
After the Cannes Film Festival, the buzz was that it was a surefire contender for Best Picture and the best performance of Michael Caine's career. But Mirimax refused to release it to theaters in the US, fearing that a film that is not too flattering of American foreign policy would get them a lot of negative publicity in the post 9/11 world. After a huge amount of pressure Miramax agreed on a minimum distribution of the film in 4 US cities for 2 weeks (this was required in order to have the film eligible for Oscars). The movie was yanked out of theatres as fast as it could be in order to avoid causing political scandal.
I agree the Disney folks are pussies, but I just can't buy their excuse of "It's not in the interest of any major corporation to be dragged into a highly charged partisan political battle" when they continue to air Sean Hannity's show among others. They're not worried about offending people per se, they're worried about offending the wrong people and the consequences that might follow. It's the same sort of bullshit that got O&A pulled, Stern off Clear Channel, it's censorship by proxy which isn't against the law, just really, really sleazy.
Edited By Sir O on 1083812657