CTV to Air Anti-Catholic “Prom Queen” Again September 3rd.

TORONTO, August 31, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On September 3rd, CTV will be re-airing the film “Prom Queen” about the Oshawa teenager Marc Hall’s successful fight to force the Catholic school board to allow him to attend the highschool prom with his homosexual partner. The movie was criticized by representatives of the Catholic Civil Rights League, the organization that monitors anti-Catholic bigotry in the media, when it first aired in June. Michael Connell of the CCRL said at the time, “Given CTV’s track record of anti-Catholic stereotypes in its comedy programming, including recent offerings of the show Comedy Inc. and most notoriously the anti-Catholic stunts of the now cancelled Mike Bullard Show, we can expect that all the ‘humour’ will be at the expense of Catholics.”  The CTV website lauds the made-for-TV movie as a ‘David and Goliath struggle’ between Hall and the Catholic school board who are portrayed as relentless dogmatists. “This is a movie for everyone who has had the chance to stand up for what they believe in,” said Susanne Boyce, President of CTV Programming and Chair of the Media Group.  One recent reviewer said that the film, “is deliberately calculated to offend Catholic sensibilities.”  Writing online on a film and entertainment website, the anonymous reviewer said, “There are crucifixes, plaster statues and holy pictures everywhere, and Marc himself is shown (not once, but twice) framed by a crucifix of light, thus casting him in a saviour role.”  Less obscurely, Toronto writer and broadcaster, Michael Coren, wrote in June when the programme first aired, “Catholic-bashing is the last acceptable hatred. In circles where racism and anti-Semitism would be rightly condemned, anti-Catholicism is positively celebrated.”  To express concerns to CTV:  Write to:  CTV Television Network P.O. Box 9, Station ‘O,’ Scarborough Ontario, Canada M4A2M9 Telephone: (416) 332-5000 [email protected]   ph