Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on what a Comedy Central executive said yesterday (Viacom owns Comedy Central):
Viacom has a serious problem on its hands: Jake Weisman, the co-creator and writer of the Comedy Central show, “Corporate” (he also stars in the show), has threatened to “bring the whole system down.” He was referring to the Roman Catholic Church.
Weisman made his threat yesterday on Twitter. His incendiary comment was in response to a news release I wrote about the February 14th episode of “Corporate.” In it, the Eucharist was obscenely mocked. A woman dressed like a nun was shown seductively sucking a cross-shaped popsicle. She remarked, “My favorite flavor—the blood of Christ.” It doesn’t get much dirtier than this.
It must also be said that the filthy responses that supported Weisman’s tweet cannot be reprinted here—some were aimed directly at me.
In one sense, I am happy Weisman made this threat. While Hollywood was not always a bastion of anti-Catholicism, in the past half-century it has certainly evolved into one. Let’s be honest: If Jews were portrayed the way Hollywood portrays Catholics, it would be labeled the premier anti-Semitic industry in America.
We noticed that Viacom has a New York office located at 345 Hudson Street (also the site of Comedy Central’s headquarters). Curiously, this is the same address of the Weinstein Company. As everyone knows, Harvey and Bob are veterans in the war on Catholicism. Imagine if we placed a wire in this building to see what is said about Catholics on a daily basis!
I am writing to Robert Bakish, president of Viacom, about Weisman’s public admission of anti-Catholic bigotry. If anti-Catholicism were treated as seriously as sexual harassment is these days, Hollywood would become a ghost town. In the meantime, Bakish has a hotheaded bigot on his hands. This calls for a serious response.
Contact: Robert.Bakish@viacom.com
