By Terry Vanderheyden
BERLIN, April 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The music video station, MTV, plans to air an anti-Catholic cartoon in Europe that depicts the pope as “infantile” and bouncing around the Vatican on a pogo stick, surrounded by corrupt cardinals. The show, filmed in 2004 but never aired.
An advertisement for the show, slated to air in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland beginning May 3, was pulled from the air for being more offensive than the program it advertised – it depicted a man wearing a crown of thorns on an easy chair in front of a cross, with the slogan, “Laugh instead of hanging around,” according to WorldNetDaily coverage.
The ad was pulled yesterday after the German Advertising Standards Agency condemned the MTV ad publicly.
Both the Catholic German Bishop’s Conference and the lay Central Committee of German Catholics have issued complaints against MTV. The Christian newspaper “Verse 1” has initiated an internet-based boycott campaign (visit their boycott site in German: https://www.vers1.net/links/Stoppt_Popetown_/stoppt_popetown_.html).
MTV is produced by Viacom – the same company that produces the adult cartoon South Park, which outraged Christians in December for depicting the Virgin Mary in an incredibly vulgar way.
Viacom’s children’s channel, Nickelodeon, came under fire in 2004 from pro-family groups for its production of a children’s show aimed at promoting homosexuality. Viacom is a leading global media company and one of the largest media distributors of obscenity and promoter of sexual license via their television programs, billboards and other media.
Contact Viacom:
Mr. Sumner M. Redstone,
Chairman & CEO Viacom, Inc.
1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036
Phone 212-258-6000 Fax 212-258-6100
Email: [email protected]
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
MTV to Air Abortion Promoting Ads
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/1997/oct/97102701.html
MTV Watched by Majority of Young Teens Exposes Children to 9 Sexual Scenes per Hour
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/feb/05020202.html
Outrage over Vulgar Portrayal of Virgin Mary By South Park
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120903.html
Canadian Media Company “gives the finger” to Catholicism in New Zealand
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/feb/06022704.html
See related Interim coverage, which revealed that MTV had partnered with Planned Parenthood in promoting a toll-free number for underage children to receive an unmarked package in the mail containing condoms. See the full report, “A corporate scandal worse than Enron,” at: https://www.theinterim.com/2002/oct/13acorporate.html