“Bad Santa,” a movie distributed by the Disney subsidiary Miramax, opened in time for the holidays. Louis Giovino, director of communications, was given an opportunity by Miramax to preview the film. His report on the movie provided the basis for William Donohue’s statement to the media:
“In a word association game, the mere mention of Santa to kids begets comments like ‘kind,’ ‘cheerful,’ and ‘loving.’ But the Santa in ‘Bad Santa’ is anything but: he is a chain-smoking, drunken, foul-mouthed, suicidal, sexual predator. He is shown soiling himself in Santa’s chair, vomiting in alleys, having sex with a woman bartender in a car, and performing anal sex on a huge woman in a dressing room. And his commentary in front of kids is replete with the ‘F-word.’
“This is a movie put out by Harvey and Bob Weinstein, directed by Terry Zwigoff and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen. Michael Eisner, Disney’s chief executive, is said to be disturbed by the movie. But we don’t believe him. Miramax has produced a slew of movies that thrash Christianity, and have blackened Disney’s Snow White image. Yet he does nothing about it. While this film is not blasphemous, per se, it is nonetheless offensive.
“It says something about our society that some movie reviewers welcome attacks on Christmas. For example, George M. Thomas of the Akron Beacon Journal says, ‘The trailer shows this as an anti-holiday film and it could be the much-needed antidote to that good-will-to-man feeling that permeates the season.’ Thomas does not say why it is always a Christian holiday that deserves to be bashed, but it is not hard to figure out why.
“The movie will be a hit with college drop-outs, toilet-humor buffs and those who think like the Weinstein brothers.”
