Dan Broadbent
Fans of the blog will remember Bill Donohue, who is the president of the Catholic League. Not too long ago, when news of the 300+ Pennsylvania predator priests broke, Donohue decided that it was necessary for him to come out and explain that not all of the 1000+ child victims in the Pennsylvania grand jury’s report were raped, because not all of them were penetrated. Because, I guess, that makes it better?
And now, Donohue is upset again. In a statement on the Catholic League website, he took time out of his busy schedule of downplaying child sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests to speak out against one of the best and longest-running cartoons, South Park.
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The following paragraphs may contain some spoilers for this episode – you’ve been warned!
South Park, as they so often do, made social commentary on the scourge that is the Catholic Church. Their most recent episode, A Boy and a Priest, Father Maxi (South Park’s preacher) is faced with a Sunday congregation who is mocking his sermon by making jokes about Catholic priest abuse. Father Maxi takes this personally, and buddies up to Butters, a supporting character who historically has been bullied by the main characters in the series.
As Maxi becomes emotionally close to Butters, their friendship is depicted in a way that parallels that of a priest who was grooming a child for abuse. However, (thankfully) the writers kept Father Maxi clear of this, as he’s a great recurring character on the show.
But when Father Maxi goes missing, and church services stop, South Park residents call the Vatican, who sends their “clean up crew” in, as they incorrectly assume Father Maxi has abused the town’s children. The “clean up crew” is tasked with cleaning up any blood or ejaculate they find in the church or anywhere Father Maxi is believed to have taken children. The crew then offers Maxi an all-inclusive free transfer to a new, exotic location.
It was great, I laughed, my girlfriend laughed, but the cantankerous Bill Donohue was having none of it.
In a post entitled “SOUTH PARK” CREATORS ARE COWARDS (he did the all caps there, not me), Donohue said:
The October 3rd episode of “South Park,” titled “A Boy and a Priest,” portrayed molesting priests as pedophiles. This is factually inaccurate: almost all the molesters—8 in 10—have been homosexuals. Therefore, the cartoon-victim characters should have been depicted as adolescents, not kids.
In Hollywood, the creators of “South Park,” Trey Parker and Matt Stone, are seen as courageous. They are really cowards. It takes courage to tell the truth.
Donohue then posted the email address of Comedy Central’s senior VP of Communications. Because I’m sure he really cares to hear the feedback of angry evangelicals.
BUT HOLY SHIT DUDE. Wow! What a fantastic way to miss the entire goddamn point.
I love how he’s not at all interested in discussing the actual content of the episode – calling out the systematic abuse and subsequent cover-up the Catholic Church has engaged in for decades, if not centuries. That’s not a concern for him. What’s important for Bill to point out is that, in his opinion, most of the predator priests were gay, and as a result the victims should have been teenagers. Because that makes it *so* much better, right?
He had a chance there to say something akin to “priests shouldn’t sexually abuse kids,” and instead he went with “the kids in this fictional TV show should have been older.” Christian Priorities™, I guess.
And for some reason, Donohue closes by saying the creators are cowards, because “it takes courage to tell the truth.”
If they’re cowards because, in their commentary about the rampant and systemic sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church, South Park didn’t depict the kids as teenagers, then what is Bill Donohue? After all, he’s perpetuating a myth about homosexuals having a higher likelihood of abusing children. As it turns out, there is no link between being homosexual and sexually abusing children. It’s simply a myth that homophobic bigots like Bill regurgitate. Nothing more.
This isn’t even the first time Donohue has been angry at South Park. Back in 2006, he called for the creators to resign. It wasn’t very effective.
Donohue has also whined about being satirized on the show in 2010, too.
I can’t wait to see what Bill gets uppity about next. I’m sure it’ll be just as wild and weird as before.
