On October 17, FX aired the first episode of the series, “American Horror Story: Asylum.” It depicts an evil Catholic home for the criminally insane where a promiscuous nun—in habit, of course—beats inmates; a Catholic doctor tortures them.
We submitted an ad [click here] to both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety to criticize the new series; it was rejected by both. The Hollywood Reporter’s publisher, Lynne Segall, said the ad “was not appropriate.” However, she did not say the Catholic-bashing show “was not appropriate.”
The ad met the same fate at Variety because of the alleged “mudslinging” title, “FX Trashes Nuns.” No one at Variety said the show was guilty of “mudslinging.”
On October 15, two Los Angeles radio stations carried several 30-second taped statements by Bill Donohue condemning Hollywood’s latest assault on Catholicism: KFI is one of the biggest stations in California, and KTLK has a loyal liberal audience. The following is the text of the commercial:
“I’m Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League. On Wednesday, the first episode of FX’s ‘American Horror Story: Asylum,’ will air. The entire series portrays an evil Catholic home for the criminally insane where inmates are beaten and tortured by nuns and doctors. I recently sought to place an ad critical of the show in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, but was turned down by both because of the ad’s content. In other words, not only does Hollywood delight in bashing Catholicism, it seeks to censor objections to it.”
We received a number of grateful responses—including some from members of the Catholic hierarchy—thanking us for exposing this latest example of Hollywood’s foul treatment of Catholics.
We are happy that our message was heard by thousands in the Hollywood area. Both KFI and KTLK stand in stark relief to the bigots at FX and the censors at The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.
