A few weeks ago, Comedy Central announced that it had a new program in development called “JC” that is about Jesus Christ who moves to New York to “escape his father’s enormous shadow.”
In response, a collection of Religious Right leaders have banded together to form Citizens Against Religious Bigotry and urge advertisers not to support the program:
Citizens Against Religious Bigotry will unveil a campaign Thursday to protest Comedy Central’s new animated show about Jesus Christ called “JC.” The coalition of Jewish and Christian leaders are urging advertisers to boycott the show, based on Comedy Central programs, such as South Park, which have mocked or disparaged Christ and other religious leaders.
“After we reveal the vile and offensive nature of Comedy Central’s previous characterizations of Jesus Christ and God the Father, we expect these advertisers to agree wholeheartedly to end their advertising on Comedy Central and discontinue their support for unabashed, anti-Christian discrimination,” said Brent Bozell, president of Media Research Center and founding member of Citizens Against Religious Bigotry.
Bowell said his group will publicize advertisers who agree to boycott the Comedy Central show and those who refuse.
Bozell will be joined at a Thursday press conference to protest the show by Tony Perkins, Family Research Council president; Michael Medved, syndicated talk radio host; Bill Donohue, Catholic League president; Tim Winter, Parents Television Council president; and Rabbi Daniel Lapin, The American Alliance of Jews and Christians president.
The group is sending a letter to potential advertisers, giving them two weeks to report on whether they will agree to boycott the program, warning that failure to respond will mean they support religious bigotry:
As a sponsor, you have the power to act upon your corporate values and send a clear message to Viacom and its channels that this type of blasphemous programming has no place in our homes. It cannot be an effective use of sponsorship dollars to underwrite content that is certain to offend and alienate viewers. And of course, the damage to our children is virtually immeasurable. No sponsor could possibly say they would be proud to be associated with such insensitive material.
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We are reaching out to you and other leading television sponsors, and we ask you now to agree with us and respond. We must hear from you in the next two weeks, so time is of the essence. On June 17 our coalition of like-minded organizations will hold a national press conference where we will identify which sponsors have responded to this effort and have agreed not to sponsor Comedy Central.
If you fail to respond to this letter before that time we will assume that your company is open to sponsoring the kind of religious bigotry on display by Comedy Central. We look forward to hearing from you directly.
