A protest update direct from the Trouble With Jerry website:
Demonstrations will take place during Oscar weekend in Los Angeles and around the US.
Local LA protest schedules and locations are as follows:
▪Friday, February 20, 12 noon, Motion Picture Academy, 8949 Wilshire Boulevard, Beverly Hills.
▪Saturday, February 21, 12 noon, Kodak Theatre, Highland & Hollywood Blvd.
▪Sunday, February 22, 2:00 p.m., near the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood & Vine
Correspondence between The Trouble with Jerry and the Motion Picture Academy, as well as some history of disability rights protests against Jerry Lewis, and current protest information, can be found at http://TheTroubleWithJerry.com
17 comments:
This is also great information for people who are close by and even people who live far away who are interested in attending. To go and protest and believe in what they are fighting for, to show people that they can achieve anything they set their minds to. If it is true about what they say about Jerry Lewis then these protesters should continue to fight. To be on the safe side people should do more research to find out if this information is correct.
R. Hernandez
Well why is this Jerry lewis guy being awarded the humanitarian award? It dosn't seem he deserves it. I hope this protest can open peoples minds and make them understand that PWD as well as PWOD are equally powerful and they can make a change to be heard.All I can say is ignore negative energy and hope everything goes well
E.Meza
EMeza wonders "who is this Jerry Lewis guy?" and what he has done to earn a humanitarian award. The first question is easy to answer. Lewis had a 50 year career as a comedian and actor. In the 1950s he and Dean Martin (I can hear you ask, "who is he?" - that's another blog) were a popular comedic duo, in clubs, movies and TV. After the two broke up, Lewis made many buffonish movies, some of which made money, few of which appealed above the age of the 9 year old male.
In the 70s Lewis began a telethon for people with muscular dystorphy. At first it was very well accepted. Few celebrities refused an invitation to participate in what became an annual fund raiser over Labor day. NBC stations donated valuable time, and he used it to the maximum, raising billions for research for muscular dystrophy. How can that be bad?
Lewis has a prickly personality, and an overdeveloped sense of his own talent and value to society. He was raised at the time of the original "Brat Pack" (another blog to explain that reference - Sinatra, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis, Jr., etc) with an exaggerated macho response to any criticism. I have seen him on tv several times over the last 30 years denouncing anybody who criticized. His favorite epithet was "nazi", which I suspect he would call me if he read this.
What advances in the treatment of MD can be attributed to billions raised by Jerry Lewis in his telethon? How do you balance his achievements with his inappropriate statements and his prickly and difficult personality?
Can research money make up for injury to self esteem of the people he was trying to help? I don't know the answer to this one. If all the money he raisd went into stem cell research, and we could see tangible results from those investments, that would make up for a lot of stupid statements by him.
Does he deserve the humanitarian award he received? I don't know. I am just glad he stopped making movies.
Davidw
I saw the Oscar’s and saw the real Jerry Lewis, but I was not happy to see how they were portraying him in a positive manner of helping children with muscular dystrophy. This will be a great opportunity to protest against this display of humanitarian award for Mr. Lewis and set things straight. I do agree, however, that further research should be conducted to prove that Mr. Lewis is not worthy of the humanitarian award according to the past events in his life.
JudithW
After reading some of the comments Jerry Lewis has made in the past regarding persons with disabilities it made me feel upset and disappointed that such an award as the humanitarian was presented to Mr. Lewis during the Oscars this past Sunday. I can clearly understand the anger and protest. Unfortunetly, all of the good (raising money for the cause) he has done for persons with muscular dystrophy will be overshadowed by those awful comments he has made in the past. Personally,I feel that he could have put the whole issue to rest if he would have addressed the issue at the Oscars and apologized for using inappropriate language in the past. I think that Jerry Lewis should actually spend some time with persons with disabilities to understand that they are more than able to accomplish great things in life.
It make you question if Jerry Lewis's intentions for doing the telethon are really for the greater good are just to benefit himself financially (because he does get paid for doing the telethon).
-Anabel Ponce
Wow! It is definitely clear that people are bothered by Jerry Lewis receiving the Humanitarian Award. I wonder if he feels guilt for accepting the award. Does the money he raises during his annual telethon go primarily to children with MD?
I do agree with Hernanadez about the protest and fighting for what they beleive, I think they should make there voice heard.
Anthonia F.
Breaking this down we have an individual whom has raised billions of dollars for MD, and on the other hand we have a person whom has offended many individuals with disabilities. Now what the Academy Awards is doing is focusing on the first point and not paying attention to the population being affected. In true form Hollywood is doing what they do best, chose what is considered honorable and humane while ignoring millions of Americans that feel strongly that Mr. Lewis does not deserve this award because of the offensive remarks he has made. The trouble with relying on Hollywood to side with the general public is that they are in the business of entertainment and when it comes down to it the ultimate form of free speech. They continuously make entertainment that is offensive to many different cultures and populations. However, we as the general public keep supporting this as we keep watching this entertainment. Why would they feel the remarks made by Jerry Lewis are any different? They just focus on the billions of dollars he generates. However I do feel that what we have learned from the protest that the billions are not worth the damage to the self esteem.
~Marlene H.
I do not think that Jerry Lewis desevered the himanitarian award given to him last week. The protest is guueinne. These tpe of protests give people chanse to know what is going on. People can show their resentment towards the wrong/unpapular selection for the award. I hope on this protest the organiser must se whether their choics was correct or not, they should review their decission or atleast see they should not repeat the same mistake.
I do not think that Jerry Lewis desevered the himanitarian award given to him last week. The protest is guueinne. These tpe of protests give people chanse to know what is going on. People can show their resentment towards the wrong/unpapular selection for the award. I hope on this protest the organiser must se whether their choics was correct or not, they should review their decission or atleast see they should not repeat the same mistake.
vpuri
March 2, 2009 11:57 AM
From the looks of it I don’t think Jerry Lewis disserves the humanitarian award that he received, but for that reason the people in charge should take into consideration that the person being presented that award is true to helping people who have muscular dystrophy and also making sure that all the funs he or she is raising are being used for a good cause.
Laura.C
Well, if it werent for reading these comments, i would have been like "yay he got an award" but apparently, he doesnt deserve it. So i think it is great that they are protesting because people,like me, open their eyes and see the truth because i would have never known anything about jerry lewis.
Ahernandez
I am really glad there is going to be a protest. I believe that it is a good cause because it is rude to make comments about people with disabilities. Just because he is a celebrity does not give him the right to make comments about people with disabilities. It is erroneous and he should know better. People like him that are ignorant about disabilities really make me angry and frustrated. I believe that there should be more awareness and Jerry Lewis should just keep rude comments to himself.
Brenda Hernandez
When i heard that Jerry Lewis got awarded the Humanitarian Award, i was upset. If i lived closer to the protest, i would have attended as well. When i read "If I had Muscular Dystrophy," it made me mad with some of the things Jerry Lewis mentioned. He made it seem as if a person with a disability cannot contribute to society because of their disability.
-Monica A. (case management-Rivas)
I agree with the fact that more research should be done about this Jerry Lewis. These people that went to protest and believe greatly in what they think is right is amazing. Things point out to believe that Jerry Lewis did not deserve the humanitarian award, but for this more research should be done. These people that are protesting are doing the right thing, the question is if Jerry Lewis has one bit of conscious for accepting this award.
A. Cantu
It is good that people go out and fight their wishes. They need to know if this information is a fact before they start protesting.
Alberto
So because Jerry Lewis sees PWD as people who only strive to be Non-PWD, and that PWD hate the fact that they are cursed because of their disability, portraying them as people who with pity win the hearts and money of people, instead of with their successful stories of achivement and indepedent living accomplishments, that he should be entitle to an Humanitarian Award?? Well ok then Academy, I guess you guys really like the drama.
-Sergio M.
Post a Comment