Where was Foxman when Eisner and Weinstein (Miramax) were mocking Lent in "40 days and 40 nights"?

Catholic League ^ | Feb., 2002 | William Donohoe

[churchillbuff]

As this letter from Bill Donohoe of the Catholic League, two years ago, noted, the Disney/Miramax sex movie, "40 days and 40 nights" not only mocked Lent (and, hence, Christianity), it heaped insult on injury by opening during Lent. Wasn't this an example of Christian bashing by Hollywood (and by two Jewish executives)? But WHERE WAS ABE FOXMAN TO DENOUNCE THIS SACRILIGE? Apparently he can only denounce Christian movies, like Mel's. I for one am tired of the Passion being labeled "controversial," when anti-christian crap is put out incessently by the Hollywood trash and hate merchants -- without a peep from Foxman.

February 5, 2002

APPEAL TO MICHAEL EISNER AND HARVEY WEINSTEIN: RESCHEDULE “40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS”

Catholic League president William Donohue has asked Disney chairman Michael Eisner and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein to reschedule the opening of “40 Days and 40 Nights” (the movie is a Miramax production and Disney is the parent company of Miramax). The film portrays actor Josh Hartnett as a Catholic who pledges to give up sex for Lent but has his will tested by his ex-girlfriend. It is scheduled to open March 1. Lent begins February 13 and runs through Easter, March 31. Donohue is requesting that the movie open sometime after Easter. He explained his reasoning as follows:

“In my letter to Michael Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, I asked each of them to ‘intercede on behalf of Catholics’ by doing whatever they could to reschedule the movie. ‘To show a film that parodies Lent in a most vulgar way is bad enough,’ I said, ‘but to show it during Lent is outrageous.’ It is no wonder the Fort Worth Star Telegram commented, ‘Pretty sensitive of Miramax to schedule a film mocking Lent during Lent, eh?’ Indeed, the movie is rated R for ‘strong sexual content, nudity and language’ and is noted for its ‘vulgar sex gags.’ Now if this is Weinstein’s Lenten gift to Catholics, he can keep it.

“On the Miramax website, it says the movie is based on the real-life experience of the film’s writer, Rob Perez. Yet the movie’s publicist tells us that Lent was used merely as a vehicle for the character to give up sex—so as to ‘make the story cute.’ But wouldn’t it have been just as cute to portray the character as a Muslim who gives up sex from sundown to sunset during Ramadan and is tempted during the day? That, however, would have cast Weinstein as being insensitive to Muslims and that is not a sin he wants to commit. Indeed, Weinstein postponed the film ‘Gangs of New York’ after 9-11 saying, ‘in light of the ever-changing current events, we have chosen to err on the side of sensitivity and postpone the wide release of the film until 2002.’ Wonderful. Now if only he treats Catholics the way he does Muslims and New York thugs, Catholics will be delighted.”

[eddiespaghetti]

What I meant to say was that I disagreed with your characterizing Foxman, Eiser, and Weinstein as representing ONE DISTINCT AND PARTICULAR strain of Judaism.

[eddiespaghetti]

Let me try that again (it's late; I should turn off the computer):

What I meant to say was that I disagreed with C.B.'s putting Foxman, Weinstein and Eiser in the same pod.

[rmlew]

Perhaps you forgot about Keeping the Faith or about 2/3 of Mel Brooks movies that treat Jewish customs and laws as a running joke?
Contempt for Judaism is common in Hollywood. However, the racial hatred is not there, limiting what is done.

[river rat]

"Or is someone being Jewish an important factor only when they are loathsome and offensive?"

In a word, yes. It does become a noticed point.

The truly "loathsome and offensive" ones in the "public arena" do seem to be a larger number than statistics relative to the size of our Jewish population would lead one to expect...

Semper Fi

[MarMema]

Saint Nicholas of South Canaan’s prayer upon being released from Dachau prison camp

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

Enemies have driven me into Your embrace more than friends have. Friends have bound me to the earth, enemies have loosed me from the earth and have demolished all my aspirations in the world.

Enemies have made me a stranger in worldly realms and an extraneous inhabitant of the world. Just as a hunted animal finds safer shelter than an unhunted animal does, so have I, persecuted by enemies, found the safest sanctuary, having ensconced myself beneath Your tabernacle, where neither friends nor enemies can slay my soul.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless then and do not curse them.

They, rather than I, have confessed my sins before the world.
They have punished me, whenever I have hesitated to punish myself.
They have tormented me, whenever I have tried to flee torments.
They have scolded me, whenever I have flattered myself.
They have spat upon me, whenever I have filled myself with arrogance.

Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Whenever I have made myself wise, they have called me foolish.
Whenever I have made myself mighty, they have mocked me as though I were a dwarf.
Whenever I have wanted to lead people, they have shoved me into the background.
Whenever I have rushed to enrich myself, they have prevented me with an iron hand.
Whenever I thought that I would sleep peacefully, they have wakened me from sleep.
Whenever I have tried to build a home for a long and tranquil life, they have demolished it and driven me out.

Truly, enemies have cut me loose from the world and have stretched out my hands to the hem of Your garment.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.
Bless them and multiply them; multiply them and make them even more bitterly against me:
so that fleeing to You may have no return;
so that all hope in men may be scattered like cobwebs;
so that absolute serenity may begin to reign in my soul;
so that my heart may become the grave of my two evil twins: arrogance and anger;
so that I might amass all my treasure in heaven;
ah, so that I may for once be freed from self-deception, which has entangled me in the dreadful web of illusory life.

Enemies have taught me to know what hardly anyone knows, that a person has no enemies in the world except himself.
One hates his enemies only when he fails to realize that they are not enemies, but cruel friends.

It is truly difficult for me to say who has done me more good and who has done me more evil in the world; friends or enemies.
Therefore bless, O Lord, both my friends and my enemies.

A slave curses enemies, for he does not understand. But a son blesses them, for he understands.

For a son knows that his enemies cannot touch his life.
Therefore he freely steps among them and prays to God for them.
Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them and do not curse them.

[DonQ]

I hadn't supported Abe Foxman's campaign against Gibson's movie ... BUT it is clear to me that the Catholic League (source of the lead article) just doesn't get it.

Foxman, et al., didn't criticize Gibson's movie as sacrilege .... heck, I've seen dozens of movies that made light of Jewish religious ceremonies and nobody bitched about that aspect of them .... Gibson's movie is being criticized because of fears it will provoke ethnic hatreds.

Nobody feared that 40 Days - 40 Nights , a rather pointless sex comedy, would do that much damage. And frankly Jewish organizations are hardly the authorities for what is or isn't an acceptably solemn view of Lent.

[newzjunkey]

The 40 Days/Nights thing is a bit of a canard and poor comparison to the complaints about "Passion" since "Passion" critics are not upset about the content as much as what it could inspire... blah, blah.

Any two-faced activities on Hollywood's part (financing anti-religous but not religious films perhaps) and specifically any Jewish leaders is more likely attributable to their backgrounds rather than their particular religious faith.

Maybe they should be called Semetic-Americans or something instead of Jews to separate those of the Jewish faith from those simply of the ethnic grouping.

[dennisw]

Bill Donohoe is kind of the Catholic's version of Ann Coulter...brash, outspoken, often controversial...and he's correct most of the time too.

I like him a lot when I see him on TV. It's up to him and like minded people (organizations) to critique HollyWierd's bashing of Christianity by out of control Jewish studio executives.      (Full disclosure: I am 100% Jewish, not anti Semitic)

[dennisw]

The 40 Days/Nights thing is a bit of a canard .............

That dumb ass movie sunk without a trace. "Passion" is a much larger movie, bone of contention

[kosta50]

Good post.

I just don't see the point of the whole discussion with the 40/40 movie. As if that is going to shake Christian belief? Or as if the protests are ging to change some people who have no respect for anybody into respectable people?

We can only pray that they realize their fall and change.

[doosee]

There was a day when Disney had a brand name for wholesome family entertainment. Eisner and his cadre of filthmongering decadents has destroyed that brand. As for Miramax, if they could turn a buck making a movie about Mother Theresa as a prostitute, the filming would start tomorrow. The whole organization is immoral and pure evil. As a result, Disney attendance keeps dropping. Sooner or later, the free market system will bring the heathens down.

[dennisw]

There was a day when Disney had a brand name for wholesome family entertainment.

I can't tell you how sick I am of Disney and and it's perversion by Michael Eisner etc.  Actually quite amazing how a once glorious studio run by Walt Disney (anti Semitic)  has been hijacked by this cabal of non-believers, pretend Jews. (Full disclosure: I am Jewish)

Much better under Walt

[veronica]

Where is Bill Donohoe to condemn the remarks of Hutton Gibson?

[rogator]

If these folks could make a few bucks by ridiculing and reviling Judaism as they do Christianity WITHOUT FEAR OF RETRIBUTION, I think they would do it in a heartbeat.

[churchillbuff]

If these folks could make a few bucks by ridiculing and reviling Judaism as they do Christianity WITHOUT FEAR OF RETRIBUTION, I think they would do it in a heartbeat.

That's your baseless conjecture, because they never ridicule Judaism. You're trying to explain away the facts --- that they ridicule christianity and not judaism -- by suggesting your own fanciful, evidence-free explanation that takes pains to absolve them of a specifically anti-christian bias. I'm not buying it, because as Michael Medved points out, a lot of their anti-christian stuff doesn't make money, yet they continue churning it out - - - in other words money isn't their motive, hatred of christianity is.

[churchillbuff]

Where is Bill Donohoe to condemn the remarks of Hutton Gibson?

He'd be pretty busy if he put out a press release condemning every nutty crank in the country who says things that, while hateful, are irrelevant to any public matter.

Maybe I've missed it, but where's your post condeming Foxman for promiscuously tarring people as anti-semites?

[churchillbuff]

Walt Disney (anti Semitic)

So you're trafficking in the old libel that the Hollywood commies started spreading in the forties in order to punish Disney because he wouldn't cow tow to their union organizing. You won't find a Jewish composer, actor or writer who worked for Disney, who supports this smear. But it says quite a bit about you that you're pushing it.

[wardaddy]

You're kidding....

There are Jews in Hollywood who sneer at or fear Christianity.

I have watched this become more and more common in my lifetime...especially since the 60s.

The old Jewish Hollywood bosses seemed fond of Christianity and Middle America....the very things modern Hollywood lives to denigrate.

[churchillbuff]

You won't find a Jewish composer, actor or writer who worked for Disney, who supports this smear. But it says quite a bit about you that you're pushing it.

For instance, when some leftist was on an LA radio show flinging this mud, one of the Rogers brothers called in (the brothers, who happened to be Jewish, who wrote a lot of Disney's music, such as for Mary Poppins) and said it was crap.

[churchillbuff]

The 40 Days/Nights thing is a bit of a canard ............. That dumb ass movie sunk without a trace.

Why is it a canard to point out that a major studio put out a movie obviously designed to mock christianity? The fact that it wasn't a successful film doesn't negate the fact that they put it out. (Are you saying that if they put out a clearly and specifically anti-Jewish movie -- and it happened to bomb -- it would be a "canard" to call them on putting it out? ) I don't get that logic - because it's not logical