Catholic League president Bill Donohue explained the latest developments in the boycott against Miller Brewing:

“Miller Brewing will now be known as S&M Miller, and that is because it has apparently decided to drop anchor with the sadomasochistic festival that it is proudly sponsoring on Sunday at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco. It still refuses to pull sponsorship of this obscene event, knowing full well that it is making a financial contribution to an anti-Catholic group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; the Sisters is one of the beneficiaries of the street fair. And last night in San Francisco, the Sisters held a mock Last Supper, ridiculing all Christians.

“Yesterday, we sent all eleven members of the company’s Executive Committee a sample of the kinds of sick behaviors (click here) S&M Miller is sponsoring; the packet was sent by overnight mail to the all-male committee. The accompanying memo says:

     It is hard to believe that if you knew exactly what kind of event the Folsom Street Fair is that you would want Miller to be sponsoring it. That is why I am sending the enclosed photos of this event (taken from previous years) to you.
In the outside chance you are not disturbed by these photos, please show them to your mother, wife and daughters.
I trust that you will do the right thing and withdraw sponsorship of this event immediately. Rest assured that we will not walk away from this issue. The public is rallying to our side, emboldening us to stay in this fight for as long as it takes.

“Over 200 religious organizations spanning six faith communities were sent a letter yesterday asking them to join us in the boycott. If S&M Miller doesn’t pull its sponsorship, we will announce a game plan on Monday that will make the company regret it ever decided to insult Christians.”

Contact Miller Brewing at 1-800-MILLER 6 or 414-931-2000.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue announced a national boycott of Miller Beer on this morning’s “Fox and Friends.” He explains why today:

“Never have we experienced greater corporate arrogance than in this dispute with the Miller Brewing Company. Miller is sponsoring an incredibly outrageous and palpably anti-Christian event in San Francisco: the Folsom Street Fair (see its website at folsomstreetfair.com and be prepared to see the shocking photos of what goes on). Be sure to access our website at catholicleague.org to see the pictures not only of the fair, but of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an anti-Catholic group that is holding a mock Last Supper dinner tonight in San Francisco. The Sisters is one of the organizations that is receiving funding from this Miller-sponsored event.

“This all started when we learned that Miller was sponsoring an event that featured an obscene ad thrashing the Last Supper. After being pressured, Miller offered a lame statement of regret and said it was pulling its logo from the ad. Not only has it not done so—it is still posted on the website of the street fair—Miller refuses to withdraw its sponsorship. To top it off, when we informed them that some of the money being raised at this festival was being funneled to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, they were unimpressed.

“Accordingly, Miller leaves us with no options: we are calling on more than 200 Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu organizations to join with us in a nationwide boycott of Miller beer. We feel confident that once our religious allies kick in, and once the public sees the photos of an event Miller is proudly supporting, the Milwaukee brewery will come to its senses and pull its sponsorship altogether. If it doesn’t, the only winners will be Anheuser Busch and Coors.”

Contact: Miller spokesman Julian Green at [email protected]

Phone: 1-800-MILLER 6 or 414-931-2000

Yesterday, we contacted the Miller Brewing Company protesting an obscene ad for an event it is sponsoring in San Francisco on September 30; the ad for the Folsom Street Fair depicts a sadomasochistic scene where sex toys are placed on the table of the Last Supper, flanked by half-naked homosexuals. Miller now says, “We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive and we have asked the organizers to remove our logo from the poster effective immediately.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded this way:

“Miller’s response (some might find mocking the Last Supper offensive?), while limp, would normally have been enough to get us off their back. But we have subsequently learned that some of the monies being raised at this event are being funneled to a notoriously anti-Catholic and misogynist group, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (click here). After this development was brought to the attention of Miller, spokesman Julian Green responded that Miller was standing by the event. That’s fine with us. We just hope he knows that it really is ‘Miller Time.’

“Tomorrow night, the group that Miller is funding via the festival will hold ‘The Last Supper With the Sisters,’ an event that will ridicule this sacred moment in history. Indeed, on its website it describes this sick stunt as the best way ‘to prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth.’ (Its emphasis.)  On Friday, the Sisters will bring in porn stars to entertain the leather crowd. The big day is on Sunday, or what the Sisters call ‘the biggest and baddest fetish fair fundraiser in the world!’ Pictures from last year’s event (click here) show naked men and women, simulated sex, a huge phallic glass sculpture, etc.

“Apparently, Miller has decided to side with a small band of depraved and bigoted gays against Catholics (25 percent of the population) and Protestants (60 percent of the nation). This is an ethical and marketing fiasco of colossal proportions. I will announce within the next day exactly what our game plan will be. The collision course that Miller wants with Christians is now on.”

On September 30, San Francisco’s Folsom Street Fair will be held. The ad for this year’s gay/leather event depicts half-naked homosexuals at a table mimicking the Last Supper. The sadomasochistic theme features sex toys displayed on the table.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue explains his response today:

“Kudos to Concerned Women for America for bringing this obscenity to the attention of the public. Their strategy is to get California politicians to denounce this event. Our strategy is to get Miller Brewing Company to withdraw its sponsorship. Here’s why.

“There are several sponsors to this street fair, but most are local and represent niche markets; Miller is the only national household sponsor. Furthermore, Miller has a record of acceding to requests from various segments of the population that have objected to certain ads: it has bowed to the wishes of Muslims, African-American clergy, lawyers and feminists by pulling ads deemed offensive. Surely it will do the same in this instance: the ad, like the event, is morally depraved. Indeed, it is the kind of ad that only the enemies of Christians would entertain.

“We have contacted Miller Brewing and expect that they will cooperate and do what is ethically right.”

Contact: Miller spokesman Julian Green at [email protected]

Here is an excerpt of Catholic League president Bill Donohue’s letter to New York State Senators regarding abstinence programs:

I am appealing to you to introduce legislation that would reinstate the right of New York State to receive federal funding for abstinence-only sex education. This is needed because of the unilateral decision made by New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard F. Daines to reject $3.5 million a year in federal grants for such programs. His decision is not only without merit (he provided absolutely no evidence for his position), it would, if not overturned, have an adverse impact on Catholic institutions.

It may be a matter of coincidence—or it may not be—that the very same day Dr. Daines rendered his ruling, September 20, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) just happened to have come to the same conclusion. In its report, “Financing Ignorance: A Report on Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding in New York,” the NYCLU maintains, on the basis of pure conjecture, that federal funding to schools that promote abstinence smacks of religious bias. Its reasoning: 53 percent of the schools that receive public monies for abstinence programs are religious.

On p. 37 of its report, the NYCLU lists 17 religious-affiliated organizations that receive federal grants for abstinence programs. Fourteen of them, or 82 percent, are Roman Catholic institutions. Thus, it is evident that such entities would bear an undue burden if Dr. Daines’ decision were to go unchallenged. While his motive may be without religious bias, the effect of his ruling surely would not be.

If legislation is not passed restoring the status quo ante, Catholic institutions will be presented with a Hobson’s choice: either they violate their doctrinal prerogatives and accept the money, or they stick to principle and be punished for doing so. That is why I am urging you to do what you can to see to it that Catholic institutions are not penalized for being Catholic.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue released the following statement today regarding Columbia University’s decision to host Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a forum on September 24:

“Universities were not founded to promote freedom of speech, but to pursue truth. The pursuit of the truth, of course, is contingent on free speech as a means towards that end. But it is precisely because speech at a university is conditional that it cannot be absolute. For example, speech which unarguably does not facilitate the pursuit of truth, or which is by all rational measures demonstrably false, should not be given a platform at any institution of higher education. That is why circus entertainers are not asked to perform on college campuses, nor are spokesmen from the Flat Earth Society invited to speak.

“There is a place for such persons, and in New York City that would include Madison Square Garden. That is where Ahmadinejad belongs—not at Columbia. Anyone who supports terror, pledges to destroy a sovereign nation (Israel), punishes by death anyone who ‘insults’ religion (Article 513 of the Iranian Constitution), denies the Holocaust and thumbs his nose at the international community, has no legitimate role to play at a university.

“Columbia obviously does not believe that the highest virtue is freedom of speech, otherwise it wouldn’t have rescinded its invitation to Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist to speak on campus; it did so last week. Last year, after Lisa Anderson, dean of the university’s School of International and Public Affairs, extended to Ahmadinejad the right to speak on campus, Columbia president Lee Bollinger overruled her by saying he couldn’t be certain the invitation would ‘reflect the academic values that are the hallmark of a University event.’ Now the same school is hosting the Iranian thug at Monday’s event. President Bollinger needs to explain to all New Yorkers why his reason for stopping Ahmadinejad from speaking last year doesn’t apply this year. He can’t, and that is why he needs to intervene again and stop this obscenity from happening on his watch.”

On August 10, Debbie Almontaser resigned as principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy [KGIA], a New York City public school billed as an “Arabic-themed” institution. She was pressured to resign following her response to a T-shirt that read, “Intifada NYC.” Though the term “intifada” is widely understood today to mean a terrorist “uprising,” Almontaser said that the word originally meant “shaking off oppression.” When the controversy continued, she quit. Now her supporters want the New York City Council to investigate the events leading up to her resignation; some want her reinstated.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue also wants an investigation:

“We are contacting every member of the New York City Council asking for an investigation of the coalition, ‘Communities in Support of KGIA.’ To be specific, on the coalition’s website, kgia.wordpress.com, it provides a link (see ‘Pages’) to ‘Mumia on KGIA.’ There one finds an endorsing statement by Mumia Abu-Jamal (with a link to his FreeMumia.org website). He is the convicted cop-killer and hero to anti-American left-wing extremists. Though there were five eyewitnesses to the murder, and five other witnesses who said that Abu-Jamal admitted killing the officer, the crazies still rally to his side; his appeal has been heard, and rejected, by more than a dozen judges.

“The mask is off. Just as we expected, extremists are backing this so-called Arab school. What perked our interest initially was the stonewalling we experienced over the summer when we sought to ask routine pedagogical questions regarding the school. Where was the curriculum? What textbooks were going to be used? Why were imams serving on an advisory board—some of whom are militants—if this wasn’t an Islamist school? Why did Almontaser refuse to condemn the pro-terrorist T-shirt? Why is the Association of Muslim American Lawyers playing such an integral role in the school?

“And why, now, are those who made the T-shirt serving as a sponsor to the coalition? Most important, why does this coalition embrace a cop-killing thug?”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke today regarding the controversy surrounding Kathy Griffin’s Emmy acceptance speech:

“When Griffin roared ‘Suck it, Jesus!’ in front of her Tinseltown peers, she ‘drew laughs,’ according to the Hollywood Reporter. Does this not prove the point the Catholic League has long made about Hollywood’s palpable hostility to Christians?

“New York magazine gave her ‘kudos’ for her ‘joyfully blasphemous rant,’ going so far as to gush, ‘thank God we can always count on Kathy Griffin to inject a little energy into a boring awards show.’ But the same tabloid found nothing joyful about a remark that got Imus fired, labeling it one of the ‘Great Moments in Bigoted Slurs.’ Different strokes for different folks?

“Others also shared New York’s brand of humor. The website of theArizona Daily Star called Griffin’s words ‘interesting’ and ‘refreshing,’ and a reporter for the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale Fox affiliate said her ‘raunchy’ quip was ‘kind of funny.’ More revealing was the creation of a website, SuckItJesus.com, that was launched by her fans: they want her ‘mild, and comedic’ speech to be aired on E!

“Perhaps the most defining response came from Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists. In a news release, Johnson called for a boycott of the Emmy awards. Distraught that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, a private organization, is choosing not to offend 85% of Americans by broadcasting an anti-Christian rant, Johnson wailed, ‘this is something I’d expect in a nation like Saudi Arabia or Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.’ Someone needs to give her a copy of the First Amendment—it protects our right to protest objectionable speech.

“Finally, while we are pleased to learn that Griffin’s celebrity stock has plummeted as a result of her scripted speech, we also know that there are some very sick people out there who love it every time some bigot takes a shot at Christianity. To wit: the phone calls and messages we’ve received are proof positive of how visceral the hatred is, much of it aimed directly at the Catholic League. No matter, at the end of the day, Griffin lost and we won.”

Catholic League president Bill Donohue issued the following remarks today about Newsweek magazine:

“Send in the straightjackets—Newsweek has cracked up. Of all the stories in the entire world to cover, Newsweek’s website is flagging as its ‘Top Story’ an insane piece about a woman (complete with photo) who thinks she is an ordained Catholic priest. They found her in Missouri, though had Newsweek reporter Karen Springen walked into the nearest asylum, she would have found some who think they’re the pope.

“Springen’s discovery is Jessica Rowley. Jessica thinks she’s a Catholic priest because some crackpot group said they ordained her. Springen, whose contempt for the Catholic Church is rivaled only by her ignorance of it, not only makes snide comments about the Church’s rules governing ordination, she implies that the Catholic Church thinks ‘it’s a sin to be gay’ and excludes divorced people. Springen’s delusional discovery, of course, is pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality—just the kind of person who would make a great addition to Newsweek.

“There are so many denominations that would welcome Jessica, but the fact that she rejects them all indicates how little regard she has for them. This says volumes about the prestige these trendy religious communities have, even among alienated dissidents. So Jessica would rather play make-believe, pretending she’s a Catholic priest. By Halloween, she’ll no doubt become a bishop.

“If ‘I think, therefore I am’ was good enough for Descartes, Newsweekreasons, then ‘I think I’m a Catholic priest, therefore I am’ is good enough for Jessica. And for Newsweek as well.

“The next time someone tells me that the Catholic League shouldn’t be worried about bigots like Kathy Griffin—‘we have a war going on,’ they thunder!’—I’ll be sure to tell them what passes as the ‘Top Story’ at  Newsweek.”

Responding to complaints from the Catholic League, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has decided to censor the vulgar remarks that comedian Kathy Griffin made when receiving her Creative Arts Emmy for her show, “My Life on the D-List.” Last Saturday, Griffin, upon winning the award for Outstanding Reality Program, blurted out a scripted remark, “Suck it, Jesus, this award is my God now.”

The Associated Press reports today that Griffin’s comment will be censored from the taped airing of the awards ceremony this Saturday on E! On Sunday, Fox will carry the live Primetime Emmy Awards show.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue had this to say about the news:

“The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences reacted responsibly to our criticism of Kathy Griffin’s verbal assault on 85 percent of the U.S. population. The ball is now in Griffin’s court. The self-described ‘complete militant atheist’ needs to make a swift and unequivocal apology to Christians. If she does, she will get this issue behind her. If she does not, she will be remembered as a foul-mouthed bigot for the rest of her life.”

Contact Griffin’s agent, Tim Curtis, at the William Morris Agency:[email protected]