Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on an editorial in today’s New York Times:
A week ago today, we published a critical statement on the failure of the New York Times to issue an editorial condemning the decision by the Guggenheim Museum to censor three artworks from an exhibition that opened on October 6. The museum caved in to a protest by animal rights activists over two videos, and one rather bizarre installment, that they found objectionable; the latter featured hundreds of lizards, crickets, and other reptiles and insects running around eating each other under a warming lamp.
In our news release, we hammered the New York Times for habitually criticizing the Catholic League for protesting artwork that is palpably anti-Catholic, yet standing silent in the face of a protest by animal rights activists. We even waited to make a statement until October 6, thinking that maybe the paper would issue an editorial the day the exhibition opened. Well, guess what? Today it delivered.
Today there is an editorial in the New York Times titled, “The Guggenheim Censors Itself.” It is well reasoned, even if it is a week late.
We were the only organization to register an objection to the Times‘ silence, and we did so by listing the email address of the paper’s editorial page editor.
At the bottom of some of our new releases, we provide the email contact address of the offending party. It is important that you follow through and express your concerns. We can provide leadership but we cannot succeed without you. Thanks to everyone who took the time to let the Times know your thoughts. It worked.
