In the April and May editions of MAD magazine, Catholic priests were portrayed as child molesting homosexuals. The April edition had a priest preaching from the pulpit asking parishioners to help pay for the millions that the Church has had to pay in lawsuits to cover the cost of “priests who have molested young boys.” In May, the magazine stated that virtually all priests are homosexuals and therefore they wouldn’t be offended by a Disney movie like “Priest.”
The Catholic League commented to the press on this issue as follows:
“This is not the first time that MAD has attacked Catholicism. Like Howard Stern, MAD is intent on projecting the very worst stereotype of Catholic priests. And like Stern, the publication holds to the same double standard: both are on record saying that they would never do ‘victim humor,’ yet both have a strong interest in victimizing priests.
“John Ficarra, co-editor of MAD, recently said that ‘There are still many lines we wouldn’t cross,’ offering by way of example the self-imposed taboo against victim humor and AIDS jokes. Quite obviously, Ficarra feels that he hasn’t crossed the line by bashing Catholic priests.
“It is never innocent fun to defame an entire class of people because of the behavior of a few. The fact that MAD honors this tenet with regard to gays but not priests suggests that it feels quite at home playing the role of bigot when the subject is Roman Catholicism.
“The league will convey its concerns to MAD but it has no high hopes that it will persuade the publication to treat priests the way it treats gays. For if that were to happen, it would mean that MAD would have to explain to its parent company, Time Warner, why it has ceased to engage in Catholic-bashing, and that would take some explaining indeed.”
