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PARENTS OF CHILDREN affected by cleft lip and cleft palate have hit out at a forthcoming Disney film ‘The Lone Ranger’ which features a character who has a cleft lip.
The film, due out in Ireland next week, features a character called Butch Cavendish (played by William Fichtner) who is described by Disney in its promotional material as being a “ruthless outlaw whose terribly scarred face is a perfect reflection of the bottomless pit that passes for his soul”.
Parents from the Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Ireland (CLAPAI) say they have no issue with the character having a cleft lip that is duplicated on the Lego character accompanying the movie, but said there is a “deliberate negative association of a cleft”.
“The ideology and wording are extremely offensive to people living with cleft and their family and friends,” Georgina Wade, chair of the CLAPAI, said.
Cleft lip and/or palate is one of the most common birth defects, affecting around one in 700 people. A cleft lip is a gap caused when a baby’s lip fails to fuse while cleft palate is a gap in the roof of the mouth caused by failure to fuse.
Wade continued: “There is no doubt that this is what the movie sets out to do. William Fichner the actor who plays the villain says when asked about acting under the make up: ‘You know, I have the prosthetic broken nose, the whole cleft lip …’”
Parents claim that the association of the cleft lip with evil could lead to bullying, mocking and the expectation that children with a cleft condition must be the bad guys in playground games.
In a statement CLAPAI said: “It is particularly difficult because Disney and Lego are in the heart of children’s childhoods and are trusted ‘friends’ to families. We do not live in Disney’s fantasy world. This is causing real hurt to real people.”
Disney has not commented on the matter. The film is due for release in Ireland on 9 August and has a rating of 12a. The Hollywood Reporter recently said that the film, which also stars Johnny Depp, could lose $150 million.
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Jesus Christ, When is this Political Correct madness going to end….
Plenty of red thumbs as well from the PC brigade, none of em posting comments to back up their ‘anger’ though.
Ffs he also looks like a bit of a knacker oops
Iam angry because you took the Lords name in vain
jimmy, when we refuse to be intimidated by the Politically Correct Fraternity, when airing ones views and opinions!
Never in the US!!!!
…..and who has just arrived to comment, but the CEO of the Politically Correct Fraternity!
Omg everybody with long hair is gonna complain that he portrays people with long hair as the bad guy. And he probably smokes too the evil git.
Ha ha
It’s a joke at this stage!
Indeed Jimmy. This is totally stupid.
I just spent time with a primary school teacher who can no longer say ba ba black sheep. Mary’s lamb no longer has a fleece ‘as white as snow’ but now has a pretty face! You are also no longer allowed to order a black coffee/tea – just tea/coffee without milk! PC madness gone mad is right!
Agree Jimmy, must have been a slow day in the PC office that day.
I know how nasty school kids can be and I can imagine a child would slag another by using the character in the film as an insult. But I think if the character was a good guy the same name calling would be used. I think it’s good that they are normalising disfigurements an showing kids that there is other people out there with the same things as them. Like the woman who presents cbeebies with one arm, my little girl will ask why is her arm like that ill explain some people are born different but we must never make fun of people who are different and that will probably be the last she will say about that woman.
Well said Chloe
Good stuff there, not just a pretty face!
And wasn’t there a heavy hideous kidxin willy wonka– where is the line drawn? Too fat, too skinny, too ugly for fecks sake…!
I don’t like how you describe a child with a cleft lip as disfigured could you not use a better term I hope you use the same description when explaining why these children are different to your own kids.
No I wouldn’t , what I would say to my 2 year old child exactly when explaining why someone had a cleft lip would be “that boy/girl was born special , sometimes people are born different , like the way you have your little birth mark , you see? But you never make fun of other people for how they look because you will hurt their feelings and make them upset and we don’t want to do that do we?” I hope you think that’s alright………
So true chloe, making fun and teasing people when young can be quite damaging, when i joined the army at 16 I was at wits end when i had to take a shower, always getting slagged and pointed at. You would swear it wasn’t normal to have to cover it with a rather large sock… Haunts me to the day ;-)
Haha awh that must have been such a hard time for you but I’m glad you got through it! On a totally unrelated subject , I got an email this morning telling me my twitter account was at risk of being compromised and was trying to be hacked. Has anyone on the journal every got one? I think it may have been someone that uses this sit because the journal and Facebook are the only other two sites I would use daily, and never show my twitter name on Facebook.
Portraying characters with deformities is Ok,
But associating deformities with evil is wrong.
Haven’t seen “help for heroes” bang on about Captain Hook or Long John Silver.
Or the asthma society go off on one over Darth Vader.
& where do I even start with dr. strangelove?
Portraying people with disabilities or deformities as ONLY good or righteous characters would be wrong. Villains should come from ALL walks of life.
But if you want to get deep – considering the era, it’s wholly conceivable that a person with a cleft lip would be a villain in that time. As a child the villain would have been ridiculed & treated differently leading to serious psychological problems which lead to him becoming a villain. I’m no psychologist, but I’m sure there are many who would back this theory.
Furthermore who said being evil is such a bad thing? I’ve seen the good two shoes brigade and they look like a pain in the ass
Next long John silver will be 2 legged, captain hook will have 2 hands and one eyed pirates will have 2 eyes.
Aye aye
batman & superman will be just men
The patch on the eye has nothing to do with the pirate missing an eye. The reason they were worn is so that the pirate can go below deck, switch the patch to the other eye so he can see better in the darkness of the hull.
Interesting fact. Makes sense. Where did you pick up that piece of trivia?
Im guessing your a QI fan niall
Arrrgh, the women, aye aye.
These parents obviously have little to be worrying about. .The hunchback of notre dame had a hump on his back..Was there a group of outraged people with humps on their back ??? Absolute nonsense.
He was however the ‘good guy’ of the story
I’m sure the priests and religious nuts were offended by archdeacon frollo’s character.
I’m thankful and glad you don’t have to worry about this , but cleft kids need someone to speak up for them, it isn’t a war against the movie its to highlight a stupid/wreckless comment used in the marketing of the movie… just pop down to st Annes ward in crumlin and meet those kids and parents and ask them why they have so little to worry about…
If they didnt have people with cleft lips in movies they’d be giving out about that too I suppose.
Some people are just born cry-babies.
Political correctness gone mad. Nothing but nanny-statism. You cannot do anything these days without offending someone. The villain has a scar, nothing more. The CLAPAI are reading far too much into this. Delusion.
In fairness there are some Little brats, for want of a better word, who would bully kids after seeing this. Unfortunate but true.
When I was young we had a way to deal with being teased. We would talk about it right before the fight.
These parents need to cop on FFS.
I’m just wondering… if the CLAPAI people had said nothing, would anyone have really noticed, including the “bullies” that the condition was being portrayed with wrongdoing?………. I think sometimes that organisations such as CLAPAI shoot themselves in the foot.
Better question is would we even have noticed the movie? This is just being hyped up to generate media, and therefore public, interest in a movie that was expected to flop
They shouldn’t have been shooting their mouths off.
I’m wondering how much of a donation from Disney & Lego they have in mind before they become un-offended. Sure tis a great wee pr spin for ye!
…Next time Hollywood throws out a stereotyped Irish character, we should collectively get our nickers in a twist.
Ridiculous. Bullies bully because they can. When they pick a victim then they find what to bully them for, that’s what I think anyway. Be it glasses, too fat, too skinny, too ginger, too spotty etc etc. Do bullies who call others “big ears” all join up and watch dumbo and noddy on a loop?
I just hope your list doesn’t make it into the wrong hands.
Absolute hogwash, that association would want to get a grip.
i seen the movie and never even noticed.
I find your avatar offensive. I have a dog & he never snarls like that. Your depiction of dogs is wrong & will open them up for unfair treatment. Now, give me a big donation to shut up.
Someone isn’t doing their homework.
Butch Cavendish has always been John Reid’s Nemesis (John Reid is the Lone Ranger’s real name), much like the joker is to Batman. He’s responsible for murdering Reid’s brother & father & three other rangers in the troop.
He received his facial scarring including his damaged lip when a bank robbery goes wrong & the dynamite on the safe goes off early. He later grows a moustache to cover the lip (& the guy in the movie doesn’t look anything like him – the original Cavendish is short & stocky).
Anyone who grew up with the Lone Ranger (in B&W) on Saturday morning BBC1 during the 70s, knows this.
Wait a minute these are fake hands!!!!!!!!
So does long John silver portray all amputees in a negative light…ffs!!! I have never heard such shit!!
He rides a white horse so I guess he is racist also.
Nothing said when red dragon came out
World gone mad…..everyone can be offended now and it’s open season on anyone who might say something wrong.
Wait till they see the movie and they’ll be angrier that they were robbed. 2hrs plus of pure drivel, and that’s with 30mins cut out where they apparently have a storyline that the bad guys are in fact werwolves…. Go home Hollywood, you’re drunk.
Have they cut out the werewolf storyline?
No idea why that was in there at all.
It’s true that I haven’t seen a protagonist with a cleft lip but I really don’t see too much harm in it, having a cleft doesn’t make you imperfect but why not let the bad guy have one? Or will children really associate a cleft lip/palate with negativity or as being bad/evil?
Butch Cavendish also wears a hat… thus thanks to The Lone Ranger I must conclude that the association of a hat with evil could lead to bullying, mocking and the expectation that individuals with a hat must be the bad guys.
Cavendish? Thought he rides a bike?
Burn every piece of film that ever featured Jaquen (sp) Phoenix! What’s next, the damage austin powers 3, and uncle buck have done to people with moles? The reason your kids feels different is YOU’RE making them feel different with this ridiculous crusade.
The point made Here is that Joaquin Phoenix shouldn’t be portrayed as evil because he has scoliosis & a cleft. Disney should know that a cleft should not be associated with evil, especially in a kids movie and in Lego figures.
utter bo!!ox. “a cleft lips should not be associated with evil”? It’s a character in a movie – not the target of an extremist tirade. How many black people have been portrayed as the villain in movies – o my god! the racist pigs! One of my kids wears glasses – should I get my nickers in a twist over the villain in Indiana Jones….and the lego version too? – the only ones making an issue is you so-called advocates.
But Matt, it’s the PR statement from Disney that explicitly connects the cleft lip with evil.
Imagine if a movie with a black villain had this marketing line:
“… ruthless outlaw whose terribly black face is a perfect reflection of the bottomless pit that passes for his soul.”
Yeah, that wouldn’t go down well.
& I’m still saying your “outrage” is an over the top reaction born from un-confronted personal issues.
mounntains mole hills
And the lone ranger was that ugly he had to wear a mask and not a word about it
Zoro got chicks. Maybe it’s the accent
Bring your kids to see Brokeback Mountain if the Lone Ranger isn’t suitable, he he
Haven’t seen one comment complaining. Says it all really. PC gone too far.
I was highly offended when planet of the apes came out.every time i left the house it was ‘here Cesar,NNOOOOOOO’
I wouldn’t mind but he wasn’t even an orangutan.
Idiots just saying this so that they can be seen to be relevant. “There is no doubt that this is what the movie sets out to do” Really? This is nothing more than sensationalism.
These “parents” need to get hobbies. They’re obviously bored and have nothing better to do.
Give me a break! Seriously, just now they will all be moaning about Noddy and Big Ears sharing a bed….. Oh right, that’s already been done. Geez, some people can be so silly at times!
I get that this could potentially cause kids to tease eachother but we need to be measured in our reactions and not immediately demand that anything we dont like is banned. The thing is that kids can be very cruel and they‘ll find a reason to single other kids out – if it‘s not this it will be some other reason. You can‘t just go around getting outraged and demanding to have everything banned.
Yeah, coz children are so inherently good, and it’s the adult world that corrupts them.
That’s the sort of BS that the namby-pambies in the PC brigade would have us believe. Rather than the truth, which is that kids can be vicious little b*stards at times.
The lone ranger calls the indian tonto, which means studid. This whole show should be banned, in fact, the tv series is off air permanently because of the racism.
Get a grip Ned! If you’re that easily offended I would recommend not watching or reading anything again
Or keeping his eyes closed permanently
The issue is not that the character has a cleft lip. The issue is that Disney stated in the PR statements about the movie that the Cleft lip was used to emphasis the villainous nature of the character. Any dramatic depiction of evil that uses a birth defect for emphasis is unfair to those who have these.
Finally, someone who actually read the article!
All this political correctness has gone beyond a joke!
You cannot say or do anything anymore for fear of offending somebody!
All this will only end when we are all perfect clones of each other, that way there is nothing to differentiate people. Seems to be the way they want it! :)
Should anyone want to explore or understand the issue please read the blog or just this quote: “To be clear, the problem is not that a movie character has a cleft or that Lego have duplicated the cleft. The problem is the deliberate association of a cleft with evil.”
http://www.cleft.ie/2013/07/26/disneys-the-lone-ranger-shame-on-you/
To be completely honest with you, I really couldn’t be arsed.
Have you declared a fatwa on Disney yet?
Buy the angry parents a horslips Album or two to chill out-
Sure isn’t it well known that kids with cleft lips/pallets grow up to be pirates or bad cowboys…..
True story.
Seen it last nite Jonny Depp basically changed out of his captain jack uniform and in his tonto suit same charter…
What a load of absolute and utter PC b0llocks!!
It’s a movie people !!! Try and get a grip on reality …. Kids are picked on for anything and everything , part of growing up is learning to deal with it . Parents should spend their time doing that rather then whining bout movies
Well, don’t bring your child to it ffs.
The actors comments if read or seen by kids may trigger a reaction when they see cleft kids, its a basic human reaction , so it is a problem and as parents of children who could be directly affected we have all the right in the world to object to these words and speak our mind, I hope none of the people ridiculing our opinion every have cause to feel the depth of displeasure…
The movie bombed in American theaters!
POLITICAL AND CORRECT …. IN THE SAME SENTENCE !!!!! … Now that’s pushing the bounds of reality way tooo much … If people don’t like something about how a film is promoted …. DON’T F£$¥%#g Go … SIMPLES
Hollywood has traditionally portrayed gay characters as villains / killers (psycho, JFK, silence of the lambs) or more recently as asexual, effeminate,witty minor characters, best friend to the well rounded straight protagonists. Hollywood doesn’t always mirror reality so pointless complaining if they don’t make movies that please everyone. Pay to see something else. The only feedback they react to is box office numbers.
There’s two ways of looking at it: one, cleft palates existed then and couldn’t be mended; two cleft palates exist now and can be mended. Aren’t modern people lucky.
They are all just a big bunch of moaning whiny gobsh!tes looking to get their own way.
For those of you who feel we are overreacting, there is a universal movement towards changing how we perceive people with facial differences. It’s about ‘growing up’ as human beings and standing up for what is right after years of living in the dark ages, standing up for people who are more vulnerable than the rest of us. For more information to broaden your perspective go to https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/About-Us and http://www.cleft.ie/what-is-a-cleft/
Watch Sly Stallone movies from now on
People have little to be worrying about seriously
The most outrage and overreaction I see here is from those of you ranting on about a PC world gone mad.
Until Disney actually make an apology or compensation of some sort, all we have is a group of people exercising their democratic right to complain about what they perceive to be discrimination. Disney have not, and are unlikely to, make any such apology.
Put yourself fin the position of having a cleft lip, or being a parent with a child who has one, and the PR statement is offensive. The film makers may not have intended that, it could just be some marketing dude getting carried away. But surely people have a right to complain?
We don’t all share the same opinions, or get offended by the same things. Shame we can’t all have a bit more empathy with each other.
Why don’t they just ban pirates while they’re at it for having an eyepatch.
Its just a movie for fecks sake
I have a broken nose and I think about killing myself all the time. Every waking moment.
Ah for Gods sake get a life.
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