The petition drive against the Showtime production of Penn and Teller’s vicious assault on Mother Teresa was at least partly successful. In an unprecedented move, Viacom/Showtime officials decided never to run this particular episode again.
On July 18, the producer of the offensive show, called Bill Donohue. When Donohue accepted the call, the producer thanked him for doing so and expressed surprise that he would even speak to her. She then apologized profusely.
According to the producer, a Showtime employee, she was asked to draw up a list of questions that were to be asked of Donohue; a member of the technical crew that was to shoot the program would then pose the questions to Donohue in the Catholic League’s office (which occurred in October 2004). That was it. The rest of program was in the hands of Penn and Teller’s editors. When she saw the final product, the producer confessed that she was horrified. Indeed, she told Penn and Teller’s executives that she would never work for them again.
Donohue credited her for her sincerity, said none of the questions she posed were disrespectful and said he would make notice of this on the Catholic League’s website where her name appeared. But he also said he wanted to hear from others.
On August 17, Donohue heard from Viacom CEO, Sumner Redstone. What he heard led him to blast Redstone for “defending Catholic bashing.” Click here for the incredible details.
