Former Brady Bunch pin-up Maureen McCormick has pledged to boycott Ben Stiller's war comedy Tropic Thunder as part of a protest about the film's use of the word ******.

The actress has joined activists who are protesting the movie's controversial scenes, which poke fun at the disabled. The protesters were out in force at the film's Hollywood premiere earlier this month.

In a blog post, McCormick writes, "I haven't seen the movie and I won't go see the movie because of what I've heard, but I want to add my two cents to the opinions on whether it's offensive to the mentally challenged.

"I know Ben Stiller has said that he's making fun of actors, not people with disabilities. Still, the movie is geared toward a younger crowd and I fear a lot of those teenagers and college students will leave the theater thinking 'r**ard' is (an) okay word to use. It's not. It's taken years to get people to stop using that word."

Disability advocacy groups are calling for a boycott of the film, which is the current box office favourite, after taking offense to a scene in the film, in which Stiller and Robert Downey Jr.'s characters discuss how to play a special needs person.

McCormick, who has a mentally handicapped brother, is a supporter of Best Buddies - an organization designed to enhance the lives of those with intellectual disabilities.


(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)

:clap :clap :clap Good for her! That has got to be my least favorite word in the entire english language. :mad:

Good for Maureen! :clap Hey, does anyone know how things turned out with her father? I remember she was on Dr. Phil (I think in May 2007) and I never heard anything else about it. :confused:

She admits to not having actually seen it, so I'm not sure she's really entitled to an opinion. If she hasn't seen it, how could she know if it is offensive?

The word ****** is short for "********" which literally means slow. It was a euphemism, and , like many euphemisms, it lost its euphemistic power and is now considered an insult.

Already the word special is losing its power and you can't tell someone they're special without fear of them taking it the wrong way.

I don't favor using derogatory terms to describe handicaps, but I grow tired of this mentality of euphemistically describing a handicap instead just saying it like it is. Some people are mentally deficient, that's a fact of life. If we would say it like it is we wouldn't have to keep coming up with a new term every 5 to 10 years.

I can see why Maureen might be offended, but Tropic Thunder seems to push the envelope especially with Robert Downey Jr. trying to look & act black in the movie! I'll probably still watch though!:lol:

She admits to not having actually seen it, so I'm not sure she's really entitled to an opinion. If she hasn't seen it, how could she know if it is offensive?...

It's sometimes possible to determine just from previews or coming attractions (or commercials) that a movie is distasteful enough to make someone not want to see it. In the same way, some movies look good in the coming attractions, but are not really that good when viewed with all the other things that happened besides what was shown in the previews.

By your reasoning, the only way she could ever criticize a movie is if she actually pays to go in and see it...and so until she does that, she is, in your words, "not entitled to an opinion".

I don't have to actually go in a theater and sit through some two hour piece o' crap that Michael Moore puts together to know that it's going to be offensive, because just about everything he does is offensive...imo.

Point is, she IS entitled to an opinion, whether she's seen the movie or not. What you or I or anyone else does with that opinion (in terms of taking or ignoring its advice) is up to the individual.

She admits to not having actually seen it, so I'm not sure she's really entitled to an opinion. If she hasn't seen it, how could she know if it is offensive?

The word ****** is short for "********" which literally means slow. It was a euphemism, and , like many euphemisms, it lost its euphemistic power and is now considered an insult.

Already the word special is losing its power and you can't tell someone they're special without fear of them taking it the wrong way.

I don't favor using derogatory terms to describe handicaps, but I grow tired of this mentality of euphemistically describing a handicap instead just saying it like it is. Some people are mentally deficient, that's a fact of life. If we would say it like it is we wouldn't have to keep coming up with a new term every 5 to 10 years.


She IS entitled to her opinion, It's her AMERICAN RIGHT! Just as you are.

She is entitled to her opinion but I don't have to listen to it. I would listen to the word of someone who has seen the movie over someone who didn't.

She IS entitled to her opinion, It's her AMERICAN RIGHT! Just as you are.

She's entitled to an opinion, but not to having her opinion taken seriously.

It's like the people who thought Anna Nicole should have gotten a lot of money on the assumption that a lot of money was left to her in the will. Had they done some research they'd realize that there was no will leaving her anything.

When I was younger, it took me longer to learn at school, I was called ******** a lot by other kids. THAT WORD HURTS! It wasn't until 7th grade when I was able to transfer to a catholic school did that type of teasing stopped and I was able to catch up with my other classmates. I graduated with my classmates and have a great job for the past 10 years, and I also worked at another job for 11 1/2 years.

When I was younger, it took me longer to learn at school, I was called ******** a lot by other kids. THAT WORD HURTS! It wasn't until 7th grade when I was able to transfer to a catholic school did that type of teasing stopped and I was able to catch up with my other classmates. I graduated with my classmates and have a great job for the past 10 years, and I also worked at another job for 11 1/2 years.

The word "********" simply means "slow", the fact that you were insulted by it shows the utter futility of euphemisms.

Ironically, Tropic Thunder was from the same studio that did the Bradys, Paramount!! [Through Dreamworks, maybe, but still the same studio since the Viacom buyout.]