During a segment titled “Hollywood Hating America” on the February 9 broadcast of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, stated that “there are people in Hollywood, not all of them, but there are some people who are nothing more than harlots” who “will do anything for the buck.” Continuing, Donohue claimed: “If you asked them to sodomize their own mother in a movie, they would do so, and they would do it with a smile on their face.” Later, during an exchange with Daily Variety writer Grady Hendrix, Donohue scolded Hendrix for interrupting him, stating, "[M]y freedom of speech is also conditioned on you shutting up while I'm speaking." Donohue's comments came during a discussion about the Turkish film Kurtlar vadisi: Irak (Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, Panafilm, 2006). The film has been described as anti-American for its depictions of American troops massacring civilians. According to the Associated Press, the movie also depicts a Jewish doctor character who cuts out the organs of the massacre victims and sells them to “rich people in New York, London and Tel Aviv.”
As Media Matters for America has noted, Donohue has denounced Hollywood on Scarborough Country before. On December 15, 2005, Donohue appeared on the show criticizing the award-winning film Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features, 2005), where he explained that “the difference between Hollywood and the mainstream” was that “the people who make these kind of movies, though -- like gay cowboy -- would go to see a movie called The Gay Gorilla” in lieu of King Kong (Universal Studios, 2005), which Donohue said he was planning to see.
The Catholic League professes to be “the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization” that “defends the right of Catholics -- lay and clergy alike -- to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.” Its board of advisers includes conservatives such as L. Brent Bozell III, Linda Chavez, Dinesh D'Souza, Alan Keyes, and Kate O'Beirne.
From the February 9 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country:
DONOHUE: Well, look, there are people in Hollywood, not all of them, but there are some people who are nothing more than harlots. They will do anything for the buck. They wouldn't care. If you asked them to sodomize their own mother in a movie, they would do so, and they would do it with a smile on their face. You know, it's such a cop-out to talk about freedom of expression.
[crosstalk]
HENDRIX: Really? I think that's a founding principle of this country. How is that a cop-out? Do you not appreciate the Constitution and the Bill or Rights?
[crosstalk]
DONOHUE: Yeah, why don't you shut up -- why don't you shut up and let me finish, all right?
HENDRIX: Oh, lord.
DONOHUE: I didn't interrupt you, pal. The fact of the matter --
[crosstalk]
HENDRIX: We're not pals.
DONOHUE: -- is that freedom of expression, freedom of speech, which is in the First Amendment, is a means toward an end. It is not an end in itself --
HENDRIX: What do you think the end is?
DONOHUE: It is a mean toward the good society. And my freedom of speech is also conditioned on you shutting up while I'm speaking.
From the December 15, 2005, edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country:
DONOHUE: Well, I heard that from other people that it is, artistically, a good movie, so I haven't -- going to see it. Gay cowboy doesn't interest me. I am going to go see King Kong. I suspect the people who make these kind of movies, though -- like gay cowboy -- would go to see a movie called The Gay Gorilla. But that's the difference between Hollywood and mainstream.
