ABC Studios is set to launch a new sitcom “based on the life of boundary-pushing columnist Dan Savage.” The new show, called Family of the Year shows how “a picture perfect family is turned upside down when the youngest son comes out of the closet.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, what “seems like the end of their idyllic life turns out to be the beginning of a bright new chapter when everyone stops pretending to be perfect and actually starts being real.”
Raising Hope star Martha Plimpton will play the mother of the Family of the Year, written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson. When the youngest son, Kenny, comes out of the closet, the family proves to be not so perfect, including the mom.
ABC’s announcement drew a coordinated response from perplexed conservatives who cannot comprehend why a Disney company would possibly want to showcase the life of one of America’s biggest bullies.
Two conservative groups, Media Research Center (MRC) and Family Research Council (FRC), have launched a joint national campaign to protest ABC’s decision to air the sitcom pilot based on the life of bigoted LBGT activist Dan Savage.
MRC and FRC have written a letter to Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group, urging him to put a stop to this outrage.
“We can only assume you are unaware of Dan Savage’s history of over-the-top obscenity, his radical hate speech, and his venomous anti-Christian bigotry,” wrote Brent Bozell, president of MRC, and Tony Perkins, president of FRC.
According to MRC, Sherwood has not responded to the letter.
“Disney ABC’s decision to effectively advance Dan Savage’s calls for violence against conservatives and his extremist attacks against people of faith, particularly evangelicals and Catholics, is appalling and outrageous,” Bozell said in a statement. “If hate speech were a crime, this man would be charged with a felony.
Savage’s numerous outbursts are a matter of public record and include saying that he sometimes thinks about “fucking the shit out of” Senator Rick Santorum, calling for Christians at a high school conference to “ignore the bullshit in the Bible,” saying that “Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there’s nothing left but the rope,” and challenging Dr. Ben Carson to perform oral sex on him.
“By creating a pilot based on the life of this hatemonger and bringing him on as a producer, Disney ABC is sending a signal that they endorse Dan Savage’s wish that a man be murdered. He has stated, ‘Carl Romanelli should be dragged behind a pickup truck until there’s nothing left but the rope.’ ABC knows this. We told them explicitly,” said Bozell.
“If the production of Family of the Year is allowed to continue, not just Christians but all people of goodwill can only surmise that the company Walt Disney created is endorsing violence,” he said.
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter @tdwilliamsrome
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