Posted on 06/17/2002 11:38:27 AM PDT by Cinnamon Girl
NEW YORK (AP) — Despite a staggering 100,000 e-mails and phone calls in protest, Nickelodeon will telecast a special for children about same-sex parents on Tuesday night.
The half-hour report, produced by Linda Ellerbee and featuring Rosie O'Donnell, includes comments from the Rev. Jerry Falwell — who later joined conservative activists in urging Nickelodeon not to air it.
The Washington-based Traditional Values Coalition has spearheaded the campaign against ``Nick News Special Edition: My Family is Different,'' sight unseen. There were so many e-mails Nickelodeon had to set up a separate address to avoid a computer crash.
``It is a cover for promoting homosexuality for kids,'' said Andrea Lafferty, the coalition's executive director.
Nickelodeon said that's not so. Ellerbee, in the show's introduction, says, ``The following program is about tolerance ... It is not about sex. It does not tell you what to think.''
Ellerbee, who won a Peabody Award for a Nickelodeon special that delicately dissected the Monica Lewinsky scandal for children, said she conceived of this show upon reading that the word ``fag'' had become the most common schoolyard epithet.
O'Donnell's public acknowledgement that she is a lesbian put the subject in the news, Ellerbee said.
The program, which airs at 9 p.m. EDT, is largely a discussion. Although it also features a gay school principal and a gay New York City firefighter who is a father of three, children are the focus.
Some children with gay parents talk about feeling uncomfortable about what other kids say in school. Other children discuss their objection to homosexuality.
``It is never a wrong time to talk about hate,'' Ellerbee said. ``It's just not. That's all our show is about. It is not in any way about the homosexual lifestyle. It's not even introducing the subject to most kids. They know. But quite frankly, many of them know it from a hate standpoint without even knowing what they're talking about.''
But Lafferty said, ``They keep saying it is not about sexuality. It is about sexuality.''
Parents are upset because many thought they never had to worry about Nickelodeon's content, she said.
``They have been led to believe that Nick is a safe harbor,'' she said. ``Now they've been exposed. The skirt has been lifted and Nick has been exposed.''
Lafferty was asked by Nickelodeon if the Traditional Values Coalition would recommend children to be included in the special. She refused.
Falwell agreed to be interviewed, however, and is quoted expressing his opposition to homosexuality on Christian grounds. He also said it's important to respect other points of view and not react with violence.
He said later, in an interview with The Associated Press, that he is sorry Nickelodeon feels the need to ``indoctrinate'' children on homosexuality.
``Nickelodeon should stay away from endorsing lifestyles that are generally not accepted by the American public,'' Falwell said. ``It turns a children's network into something parents feel a responsibility to edit and carefully filter.''
Asked how he reconciled his participation in the show with a call not to air it, Falwell said, ``I've often said I would preach in hell if they promised to let me out.''
Ellerbee said she was disappointed by Falwell's later comments.
Most of Ellerbee's Nick News programs air at 8:30 p.m. This show has been pushed back a half hour — to a time when the network usually runs old sitcoms — because of its sensitivity, said Herb Scannell, Nickelodeon's chief executive.
Lafferty claimed advertisers wouldn't touch the show; Scannell said the plan was always to be commercial-free. Some other Ellerbee shows, including the Clinton discussion and one about AIDS, also contained no ads.
Scannell said he had no hesitation about airing the special.
``I thought it was in a territory that we've been before, in terms of looking at the world from a kid's point of view,'' he said. ``The whole philosophy of Nick is that it's tough to be a kid in an adult world.''
Do not watch Nickelodeon. Do not let your kids watch Nickelodeon. Do not buy Nickelodeon-licensed products, including anything by or about "Rugrats." Let's give the free market a chance to speak on our behalf.
Good luck, Nick. Or should I say, Good Night!
Except, of course, if you're talking about straight, and/or white, and/or conservative, and/or Christians. But then that goes without saying.
It is not about sex. It does not tell you what to think.''
Well, no, of course they're not going to tell you what to think. Instead it's going to be a case of nudge, nudge,nudge...
What gets me is that despite getting over 100K objections managment's attitude is till: "Let them eat cake"
If parents become aware and care,.. they will turn off this channel in protest. No viewers, no advertisers, no program.
I'm tired of this hidden agenda. This would teach kids that this lifestyle is perfectly normal. Whether they "talk" about SEX or not.. they imply the lifestyle is normal. Actions speak louder than words.
So,.. who are the sponsors for Nickel"odd"eon???
It is automatically "hate" if you disagree with their liberal view. Next they'll want to ship you off to concentration camps if you speak out against them.
Don't you dopes get it? Linda says, gayly, this program isn't about sex.
Ah, yet again, a group of people who tell us that the only difference between them and the rest of society is who they have sex with, is trying to tell us that a show about them isn't about sex.
The show, at least, is about tolerance for the sexual acts of others, which would be fine and dandy to me, except its on a kids television network.
Like I have said before, society is screwed up because everything these days that is pusched at kids has to be about sex.
If parents were "aware" and "cared", they wouldn't let anyone with an abnormal sexual desire anywhere near their children.....ever. When a teacher decided to announce that he/she were gay, then parents would pressure the school to remove the teacher from having contact with children, or every parent would remove their children from the school.
A person with a mental disorder that makes them attracted to the same sex has no right to be around children. Actually, no person has the right to be around children that are not theirs. Its a priveledge.
This is what we get for letting flower children run the nation! Give it another generation, we will clean our act up. I'm optimistic that the Homeschooled Generation can fix all of the problems that the Marxists brought upon us. Assuming, that is, that we don't have another civil war by then...
:) ttt
Curious that she doesn't have any NAMBLA reps on the special.
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