Bill Murray used to do movie reviews on Saturday Night Live beginning “I haven’t seen this movie but ….” and finish with something like “Francis Ford Coppola, get out of here, I mean it!”

Well, I haven’t seen Tropic Thunder but …
The word “retard” and the goofy portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities will be hilarious to some, but so hurtful to others that Steven Spielberg and Ben Stiller should have had some sense that it was wildly inappropriate. People with disabilities, especially people with intellectual disabilities, struggle with the community around them to accept them as good neighbors, reliable coworkers, responsible taxpayers, and loyal friends. What if the phrase “going full retard” works its way into our American slang because of Dreamworks insensitivity?

People we like – Stiller, Spielberg, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. make us want to go to the movies. They probably don’t realize that they had the power to slow the self-empowerment and lessen the self-esteem of people who are our friends. Consider the hurt of the parents of intellectually disabled kids listening to a generation of teens saying “going full retard.”

Spielberg, Stiller and company must get out there; go on Letterman and Leno not to promote this film but to explain their insensitive mistake. Disabled people like to laugh, especially at themselves, but they won’t see themselves in this movie. Dreamworks, Spielberg, Stiller, get out of here, I mean it.

James J. Weisman
General Counsel
United Spinal Association
www.unitedspinal.org