Thousands of television advertisers descended on New York City a few weeks ago; they were assessing the crop of shows for the next TV season. The time was ripe for us to restate our objections to the ABC show, “The Real O’Neals.” If these advertising executives are at all objective, they will want to drop this show from their list of TV packages, starting in the fall.
Our central objection to this show is the decision to base the script on the life of an obscene anti-Catholic bigot, Dan Savage; he is also an executive producer. Disney, which owns ABC, would never allow its “Snow White” image to be dirtied by picking up a show based on the life of a gay basher, but it has no problem carrying a show based on the life of a Catholic basher.
Disney’s stock is down 5 percent in the second quarter. This is not an anomaly: the stock seriously underperformed last year. It deserves to be down much more—the public needs to understand how much Disney officials have allowed their own reputations to plummet.
Magna Global is a giant in the ad-buying world; its headquarters are in New York, and it has offices in many parts of the world. We have asked its officers to inform the TV advertisers who came to New York about Savage’s bigotry. To do so would call into question future ad placements on “The Real O’Neals.”
If Magna Global, or anyone else, thinks we are overreacting to Savage’s comments, all they need to do is read what he has said about Catholics and the Catholic Church: his comments are posted on our website.
We have never dealt with Magna Global. All we are asking is that our side be given a fair hearing.
