A coalition of disabilities groups is expected as early as today to call
for
a national boycott of the film "Tropic Thunder" because of what the groups
consider the movie's open ridicule of the intellectually disabled.
The film, a movie-industry spoof directed by Ben Stiller is set for
release
Wednesday by Paramount Pictures and its Dream Works unit.
"Not only might happen, it will happen," Timothy P. Shriver, chairman of
the
Special Olympics, said of the expected push for a boycott.
A particular sore point has been the film's repeated use of the term
*RETARD* in referring to a character, Simple Jack, who is played by
Stiller
in a subplot about an actor who chases an Oscar by ****traying a mindless
dolt.
*curmudgeon*
"The best read illiterate in the country"
