Disability Groups Protesting Tropic Thunder

• Aug 12, 2008 07:50 PM ET
• by movienews

Tropic Thunder hasn't hit theaters yet, but it already has people up in arms over its edgy content.

Disability groups turned out en masse at Thunder's Monday night premiere to protest and criticize the film's portrayal of mentally disabled individuals, the Associated Press reports.

Starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. as ignorant actors filming a war movie in the jungle, Thunder features numerous scenes of the trio using disparaging terms during discussions of playing mentally disabled characters.

"When I heard about it, I felt really hurt inside," Special Olympics global messenger Dustin Plunkett said. "I cannot believe a writer could write something like that. It's the not the way that we want to be portrayed. We have feelings. We don't like the word 'retard.' We are people."

Andrew J. Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, was more blunt with his assessment of the film, calling it "tasteless" and "offensive start to finish."

"I have a sense of humor," Imparato said. "There were parts of the movie where I laughed, but it seems to me that the movie tried really hard to go too far and then pull back on everything that was offensive except the issue of people with intellectual disabilities. I just think Ben Stiller and the people involved in this movie just didn't think it was going to be offensive."

Protestors showed up to the Mann's Bruin Theatre Monday evening holding up signs emblazoned with such slogans as "Call me by my name, not by my label" and implored others to "Ban the movie, ban the word."

Feeling pressure, DreamWorks amended its promotional campaign, cutting the line "Once there was a retard," from a Web site that promoted the film-within-a-film; however, the movie itself will not be changed in any way, according to DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan.

As for its stars, Downey is taking a diplomatic stance.

"I think it's open to interpretation and that's the great thing," he told the AP. "You know, if I want to protest something because it offends me that's my right as an American, and it's also any artist's right to say and do whatever they want to do."

Tropic Thunder opens Wednesday. - Joyce Eng