This is an excerpt from a longer document found online under “Special Reports“
ENTERTAINMENT:
Ben Affleck—After speaking out against Weinstein, the Oscar winner became the subject of his own sex assault narrative when a Twitter user unearthed a clip of Affleck grabbing the breast of then-MTV VJ Hilarie Burton during a 2003 taping of “Total Request Live.” Affleck has apologized for “acting inappropriately” towards Burton. (Flare, 11/26/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Starred in “Dogma,” anti-Catholic movie, said film is intended to “push buttons.” (Catholic League, 11/19/2004) The plot was an irreverent look at Catholicism, one that maintained that Mary and Joseph had sexual relations; Mary gives birth to a daughter who works in an abortion clinic. God (played by Alanis Morissette) and the apostles (a foul-mouthed 13th is introduced) are also subjected to director Kevin Smith’s brand of humor. (Catholic League, 10/6/2014)
Woody Allen—Accusations of child molestation. (Breitbart, 10/25/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Starred in “Picking Up the Pieces,” an anti-Catholic movie that thrashes Catholicism from beginning to end. The plot revolves around a butcher (Allen) who slices up his wife and buries her in the desert. One of the hands is found (giving the finger) by a blind woman who brings it to a priest. The woman, now cured of her blindness, insists that the hand belongs to the Virgin Mary. The priest, who is having sex with a prostitute, advertises the hand to the faithful as a cure for all types of maladies; one of the “miracles” results in enlarged breasts for a woman and an enlarged penis for a dwarf. (Catholic League, 5/24/2000)
Alec Baldwin—Bullying and sexist behavior toward women. (Breitbart, 10/25/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: In a burst of anger directed at a photographer Baldwin disliked, he said, “You must have been raped by a priest.” (Catholic League, 9/18/2002)
Louis C.K.—Accused by several women of sexual misconduct. He says the allegations are true and has apologized. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare:
• Accused Pope Benedict XVI of “f***ing boys” (Catholic League, 5/18/2015)
• His show “Louie” featured an entire episode mocking and maligning Catholicism. For example, he said “the purpose of the episode was to convince elementary school kids that all the talk about Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins is pure bunk.” (Catholic League, 10/15/2010)
• YouTube mockumentary called “Louis C.K. Learns About the Catholic Church.” It features a priest who tells him that the purpose of Catholicism is “boy f***ing,” not faith. He takes him through a crash course in this perverse theology. (YouTube)
David Letterman—Admitted on Oct. 1, 2009 that he had been sexually involved with female staffers on his show. (People, 10/19/2009)
Offensive Catholic fare: A sampling of Letterman’s anti-Catholic bigotry excerpted from Catholic League news releases:
• On Good Friday (2015), David Letterman joked about the pope’s physical exam, saying his weight gain may be a function of “a little too many Communion wafers.” (4/7/2015)
• On Holy Thursday (2015), Letterman made ten jokes about the pope’s physical exam; all the comments were attributed to the attending physician. The joke listed as #1 was: “I know you don’t use it, but I still have to take a look at it.” (4/7/2015)
• Letterman began by saying Pope Francis is thinking about lifting the celibacy requirement. “That’s right. The pope is saying that priests can be in a marriage with a woman and have sex.” (7/17/2014)
• Letterman mentioned Pope Francis’ appearance at World Youth Day in Brazil by saying, “And I’m telling you if there’s anything the kids can’t get enough of, it’s a 76-year-old virgin. Come on! World Youth Day. Or as the Vatican calls it, salute to altar boys.” (7/24/2013)
• Letterman said he was “stunned” and “fascinated” by the pervert, Anthony Weiner’s predicament. He said, “Honest to God…it is the kind of behavior you’d expect from a priest.” (6/15/2011)
• When the “Opie and Anthony” radio show graphically described a couple having sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 15, 2002, a holy day of obligation, Letterman joked about it in his monologue. He also made a crack about a priest molesting an altar boy in the Cathedral. (8/21/2002)
Bob Weinstein—Accused of sexually harassing a former employee. (Breitbart, 10/25/2017)
Harvey Weinstein—Accused by dozens of women of sexual harassment or sexual assaults, including rape. Fired by The Weinstein Co. and expelled from various professional guilds. Under investigation by police departments in New York, London, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Long history of making anti-Catholic movies:
• In 1995, Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob, offered us “Priest,” a film featuring nothing but miscreant priests.
• In 1999, we were treated to “Dogma,” where the audience learned of a descendant of Mary and Joseph who works in an abortion clinic.
• In 2002, they released “40 Days and 40 Nights,” a film that ridiculed a Catholic for giving up sex for Lent.
• Also opening in 2002 was “The Magdalene Sisters,” a movie that smeared nuns.
• In 2003, “Bad Santa” opened for the holidays; Santa was cast as a chain-smoking, drunken, foul-mouthed, suicidal, sexual predator.
• In 2006, “Black Christmas” made a predictably dark statement about the holiday.
• “Philomena” was released in 2013. It is a tale of malicious lies about Irish nuns and the Church (Harvey lobbied hard for an Oscar, but came up empty). In real life, Philomena Lee was a teenager who abandoned her out-of-wedlock son, and who, because of the good efforts of the nuns, was adopted by an American couple. (Catalyst, 11/2017)
MEDIA:
NPR Chief News Editor David Sweeney—Left NPR in late November amid allegations of sexual harassment by at least three female journalists. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Sweeney has been with NPR, in various management positions, since 1993. During that time, NPR has had a long record of anti-Catholic content, including mocking the Eucharist, sexualizing Jesus, criticizing the Catholic faith of Pope Benedict XVI and other Catholic public figures. (Catholic League, 5/16/2017)
• On May 27, 2012, Barbara Bradley Hagerty did a piece that was posted on the website of National Public Radio (NPR) titled, “Just Doing His Job Is Catholic Official’s Defense.” Here is how she opened her story: “A clergy sex-abuse trial in is [sic] reaching a crescendo in a Philadelphia courtroom. One defendant is James Brennan, a priest accused of trying to rape a minor, which is not that unusual.” [Emphasis added.] (Catholic League, 5/30/2012)
PBS and CBS host Charlie Rose—Accused by several women of unwanted sexual advances, groping and grabbing women, walking naked in front of them or making lewd phone calls. He has apologized for his behavior, but has questioned the accuracy of some of the accounts. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: PBS has a long history of bias against the Church when it comes to the reporting of sexual abuse:
• “Secrets of the Vatican” marked the 48th time PBS has addressed sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Though this problem is practically non-existent in the Catholic community these days, and is rampant in the public schools, as well as in the Orthodox Jewish community, PBS has devoted a combined total of ZERO episodes on both. (Catholic League, 2/25/2014)
Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner—Accused by one man of sexual harassment. He says he did not intend to make the accuser uncomfortable. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Rolling Stone published Sabrina Rubin Erderly’s article, “The Catholic Church’s Secret Sex-Crime Files,” (9/6/2011) a hit piece on the Philadelphia Archdiocese based partly on the since exposed lies of Daniel Gallagher. After she was shown to be a fraud with the University of Virginia gang rape story, “A Rape on Campus,” (11/19/2014) Rolling Stone referred to it as an isolated incident. According to the New York Times, which conducted interviews on this story, publisher Jann W. Wenner insists that Erdely’s dishonesty “represented an isolated and unusual episode.” (Catholic League, 4/6/2015)
Leon Wieseltier—Accused of sexually harassing numerous women. Removed from the masthead of the Atlantic magazine. He has apologized for his behavior. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: When Pope John Paul II in 2000 issued his historic apology for mistakes and errors in Christian history, Wieseltier pointedly rejected the pope’s gesture of reconciliation, saying he could not accept the pope’s apology. (Catholic League, 5/26/2000)
• Wieseltier trashed Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ,” calling it “a repulsive masochistic fantasy, a sacred snuff film.” (Catholic League, 3/5/2004)
POLITICS:
U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.)—Accused of sexual harassment toward staffers in his office, and has settled one claim of harassment. He has denied the allegations, even the one he settled. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Sponsored legislation that would have made religious pronouncements against homosexuality a hate crime. (Catholic League, 4/20/2009)
U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.)—Accused of forcibly kissing a woman while rehearsing for a 2006 USO tour; Franken also was photographed with his hands over her breasts as she slept. Franken has apologized, while maintaining that he remembered the rehearsal differently. (AP, 11/24/2017)
Subsequently, several more women have come forward accusing Franken of having groped them while posing for pictures with them. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/30/2017)
Offensive Catholic fare: Franken has a history of mocking priests, and indeed the entire Catholic Church, for sexual offenses. (Catholic League, 11/16/2017) Here is a sampling of his virulent anti-Catholicism:
• He has mocked the Eucharist
• He has ridiculed the crucifixion of Jesus
• He has slandered all priests as molesters
• He has belittled practicing Catholics (e.g., Knights of Columbus)
• He has disparaged the Church’s teaching on embryonic stem cell research
• He made crude jokes about a dying woman, Terri Schiavo, and then misrepresented her condition by passing her off as already dead
• He once called New York Archbishop John Cardinal O’Connor “an a**hole.” (Catholic League, 10/27/2008)
