Matt Blank, Showtime’s CEO, and Marshall Brickman, the director of the May 27 Showtime movie, “Sister Mary Explains It All,” have justified this anti-Catholic film by citing their Jewishness. The Catholic League has a full-page ad in the current weekly edition of Variety asking the head of Showtime’s parent company, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone, to publicly condemn the movie. In the ad, Brickman is quoted as justifying the Catholic-bashing nature of the film by referencing—and distorting—past episodes of the Church’s history.
Catholic League president William Donohue addressed this issue today:
“If I were an entertainment executive responsible for a notoriously anti-Semitic movie, and I expressly gave myself a pass by citing my Catholicism, every Jewish civil rights organization would be coming down my throat. Justifiably so. That is why the Catholic League is so upset with this latest outrageous development attendant to Showtime’s film version of the maliciously anti-Catholic play, ‘Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You.’
“Columnist Cindy Adams reports in today’s New York Post that Showtime CEO Matt Blank said of the movie, ‘Listen, I’m Jewish. We’re into projects that are too political, too religious, too black, too gay. We’re a home for wayward movies.’ Marshall Brickman, the film’s director, is quoted as saying, ‘Listen, I’m Jewish. I reserve the right to satirize any minority.’
“Well, guys—Listen, I’m Catholic. And I don’t believe that anyone can exculpate himself from bigotry by citing his racial, ethnic or religious roots. In short, you owe Catholics an apology for both your bigoted words and bigoted deeds. We will now ask Sumner Redstone for a second time to condemn all the Catholic bashing that is associated with this production. We will not let go of this issue, especially now that Blank and Brickman have decided to play dirty.”
