Tropic Thunder's Simple Jack Website Went Bye-Bye
After disability advocate groups raised issues with Tropic Thunder's repeated use of the word "retard" and other offensive terms to describe a role played by Ben Stiller's character in the movie, DreamWorks has agreed to meet with them. It's almost certainly too late to change the actual film, which comes out a week from tomorrow, but Vulture reports that the first casualty appears to be the promotional website for Simple Jack, one of the fake movies-within-the-movie in which Ben Stiller plays a mentally handicapped adult, and which has the unfortunate tagline "Once upon a time...there was a retard."
The only thing more confounding than the total predictability of this news is the fact that the Tropic Thunder red band trailer, which was released in mid-May, contains more than enough clues to the potential offensiveness of the Simple Jack subplot. If advocate groups had acted then, maybe there would have been time to change the actual movie and not just remove a website. Which raises an insane question: is it possible that Tropic Thunder's over 30 million dollar overhyping campaign failed to reach everyone in America?
Posted by Lindsay at 12:00 PM in Movie Marketing
Tags: Ben Stiller | Jack Black | Robert Downey Jr. | Simple Jack | Tropic Thunder
You have to ask? Of course it failed to reach people.
Score = -1
Retards are a big enough weight on society without morons closing down websites in their name. I'm sure these advocates are gonna feel good about themselves and the attention theiy're getting, but I don't see how their work will help disabled people. Let's face it, they can't really use the internet to see this website.
Score = -7
Not just retards are a weight on society; also hemophiliacs, hillbillies, cripples, blind people, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, foreigners, tobacco users, drug pushers, alcoholics, paraplegics, AIDS & HIV positive people, Negroes, rednecks, homeless people, wounded firefighters, welfare recipients, pot smokers, Hispanics - especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, people in comas, Alzheimer patients, autistic people, polio victims, wounded soldiers, spammers, drug addicts, senile old people, toddlers, slow drivers, wounded police, D-students, amputees, deaf people, midgets, overpaid CEOs, square-dancers, slow golf foursomes ahead of you, Star Trek fans, pregnant women, and members of Congress -- and that's just to get started.
Score = -1
and full retard shirts now available at www.fullretard.com
Score = 0
MAKE AN ACTUAL SIMPLE JACK MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Score = 2