Actress: 'GCB' 'Disinfects' Christianity

Annie Potts, one of the stars of the new ABC show GCB, asserted that her show is designed to “disinfect” Christianity. Blathering on PBS’S Tavis Smiley show, Potts said:

I’m getting a lot of letters and tweets and things from people who are Christian people who are happy to see the hypocrites called out.  I think all true believers love to have hypocrisy routed out. I mean it’s – what do they say – sunshine is the best disinfectant? Put it out there. Call it what it is. You know, satire is always helpful for society.

Potts held this exchange with Smiley:

POTTS:  But it’s all about hypocrisy, really, in religion, and I think people are taking a shine to us I think in part because we, in these economic times, people just love to see rich people make fools of themselves . . .

And Potts took a shot at Newt Gingrich for criticizing the show:

POTTS:  . . . I think that a lot of people got up in arms. Newt Gingrich declaimed us. Of course, he hadn’t seen it. Somebody said to me later it was like, “Hey, now that’s what you want in a president, somebody who just says, judges something, goes, ‘Well, that is anti-Christian.'” It’s like, well, you didn’t even look at it. That’s who we want dealing with world leaders, isn’t it? Ooh. (Laughter) Anyway, so we wore that as a badge. It’s like, “Hey, Newt Gingrich said we are just terrible. Tune in.”

Someone might want to alert Potts that declaim and defame are two different words.

After exhibiting her expertise as a wordsmith, she took on history:

SMILEY: God, I – who was that, was that Dan Quayle that “Murphy Brown,” was that “Murphy Brown?” Yeah, “Murphy Brown.”

POTTS: Oh, yes, he made that show.

Potts failed at history too; Murphy Brown was a hit before Quayle lambasted the show for championing single motherhood, and years later Candice Bergen, the show’s star, admitted Quayle had been right.

Of course, Potts had to go after the biggest fish:

POTTS: Yeah, Rush Limbaugh came after us, too. I mean, you know, the usual suspects in that kind of conservative fashion . . .

It’s bad enough that Hollywood routinely lampoons Christianity; that’s to be expected from a town where morals stand light-years apart from money on the priority list. But you would think that with all the money Hollywood has, they would have more articulate spokespeople for their anti-Christian screeds.