The Catholic League has asked 75 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Mormon and Buddhist organizations to join us in boycotting Showtime. The boycott is being called because of our dissatisfaction with VIACOM CEO Sumner Redstone’s refusal to condemn the Catholic bashing associated with the Showtime film, “Sister Mary Explains It All.” It aired Sunday evening.
Catholic League president William Donohue issued the following remarks today:
“In March, 1995 the Catholic League was the first organization in the nation to call for a boycott of Disney. We did so because of the anti-Catholic Disney/Miramax film, ‘Priest.’ We had no illusions of taking down this Goliath but I said at the time that it was our goal to ‘blacken up Disney’s Snow White image.’ This, I believe, was accomplished and in subsequent years Disney was boycotted, for a variety of reasons, by several other organizations. I think it is fair to say that Disney has taken positive measures to improve its reputation in the last six years.
“In 1996-1997, we were the first organization in the nation to successfully use the internet to call for a boycott of a television show’s sponsors: by posting the names of the sponsors of each week’s ABC-TV show ‘Nothing Sacred,’ we made it possible to crush the program. We did just that. And in 1999, we got Disney to put the arm on Miramax by dropping the film, ‘Dogma’; it was released by an independent film organization.
“We have posted the appeal for the boycott on our website, www.catholicleague.org, and are now asking 75 organizations to join with us in this effort. While no one denies Showtime the right to insult Catholics, it is also true that the Catholic League will not be denied the right to exercise its First Amendment right in calling for a boycott. They asked for this fight, now let’s see if they can take the heat.”
