The ABC network featured a segment of “Politically Incorrect” on September 9 that attacked Pope John Paul II. The offender was actor Jay Mohr.
The offensive segment began when host Bill Maher set Mohr up by mentioning that there was a recent Vatican document on the Church and salvation. Mohr then attacked the pope: “The Vatican is some 80-year-old guy who lives in a bullet proof bubble, wears a bib—they got to wipe his mouth. He’s in a diaper and he’s trying to tell me who to have sex with.”
William Donohue sent the following news release on this subject to the media:
“About a year ago, Jay Mohr was asked to respond to those who are concerned that TV is abandoning standards of good taste. He replied, ‘As far as pushing the envelope, the line is gonna move every year. It’s gonna get lower every year.’
“On August 16, Olivia Cohen-Cutler, vice president Broadcast Standards & Practices at ABC, wrote me about another episode of ‘Politically Incorrect.’ She said, ‘I can assure you that many ethnic and religious groups, including Jews, Asians, Africans, and Hispanics, as well as Catholics, find themselves the target of Mr. Maher’s pointed repartee and are all equally offended by those of his comments that are directed towards them.’
“If Mohr really wants to push the envelope, he should try bashing gays. After all, since it’s politically incorrect to do so these days on TV, that would really push the envelope. As for Cohen-Cutler, I noticed that gays were not on the list of groups who have been offended by ‘Politically Incorrect.’ Since she is so concerned about equal opportunity, it would behoove the producers of the show to start gay bashing right away.
“Now the civil way to deal with this problem would simply be to stop bashing everyone. That’s the kind of equality that most Americans want.”
Once again, we are asking members to write to ABC. Write to Olivia Cohen-Cutler, vice president broadcast standards & practices, ABC, Inc., 2040 Avenue of the Stars, 5th floor, Century City, CA 90067. Since she’s new, we asked her, “Don’t you think this has gone far enough?” You might want to ask her as well.
