speech and respect - College of Social Sciences and International ...

Notes
breakdown and being sent to an insane asylum. Linda Bloodworth-
Thomason, creator of "Designing Women," feared that "abortion is
coming to such a head that we may have to do it. But it's tough when
you're doing a comedy and people see that favorite character week after
week and remember what happened to her." New York Times s.2 p.1
(May 31, 1992).
94 Los Angeles Times D1 (December 28, 1991), C1 (October 2, 1992); New
York Times C13 (October 2, 1992).
95 New York Times C6 (April 6, 1992).
96 New York Times 1 (December 21, 1990).
The Media Image Coalition of Minorities and Women (including the
American Jewish Congress, Los Angeles Black Media Coalition, Nosotros
Inc., LA GLAAD, and the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists)
urged advertisers to boycott "Driving Miss Daisy," a 1992/93 CBS
television series spawned by the successful play and movie. The Coalition
objected to the stereotypfication of Hoke Colburn, who spoke in southern
Black dialect. Los Angeles Times F1 (August 18, 1992). Robert Guillaume,
who played the African American chauffeur in all three media,
said: "It's one of the few times I've been able to watch my work without
ducking or putting my hands over my eyes." But the Coalition spokesperson
derided the series as "a situation comedy about a situation that isn't
funny, just like the Holocaust is not inherently funny." When a women
friend called FDR a nigger lover in the pilot, Miss Daisy ordered her out
the house but Hoke said nothing. "Hoke is powerless to react or respond.
He hides his anger and holds it back." Guillaume replied: "if you're a 65year-old
man in that time and you are called a nigger, is it historically true
that he could have said 'I'm out of here?' We know that is not something
that happened a lot." Los Angeles Times F1 (August 20, 1992).
Some viewers are more equal than others. When Catholics were
outraged that singer Sinead O'Connor tore up the Pope's picture on
NBC's "Saturday Night Live," shouting "Fight the real enemy," the
manager of the Notre Dame student union implicitly threatened to pull
Notre Dame football games off the network. NBC vice president Curtis
Block quickly declared: "It goes without saying the NBC does not
condone something like that. ... I was offended, the executive producer.
. . . likewise was offended and surprised." Los Angeles Times F1
(October 6, 1992).
97 New York Times A8 (March 19, 1992), A12 (August 19, 1992) (Americas
Watch "Dangerous Dialogue" report on repression of dissent by Miami
Cuban-American community). The Cuban American National Foundation
threatened to sue the Public Broadcasting System for its documentary
"Campaign for Cuba," which accurately stated that the Foundation had
accepted $780,000 from the National Endownment for Democracy and
contributed over $500,000 to the Free Cuba PAC Inc. New York Times A9
(October 13, 1992).
In South Africa, the ANC launched a boycott of the Eastern Province
79