Wes Vernon
Saturday, Jan. 27, 2001

Comedy Central now claims there are no plans to portray President Bush’s twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, as lesbian lovers. But the Religious Freedom Coalition accuses the cable channel of simply trying to deflect the heat of public outrage.

In statements to the Washington Times, Comedy Central spokeswoman Lisa Chader says the program "That’s My Bush," described as a "live action series," will be more of "a spoof of the sitcom."

One of the producers, Trey Parker, is quoted within the Times article as telling the Denver Post: "It didn’t matter whether it was Bush or Gore because we’re not out to skewer a president. We’re out to do something very subversive and actually make you really love this guy."

Chader denied there were any plans by Comedy Central to premiere a show depicting Bush’s daughters as incestuous lesbians. "They will not be lesbian lovers," she added.

The New York Post, however, had claimed to have obtained casting notes indicating otherwise.

"They’re just trying to get us off their back,” Chairman William J. Murray of the Religious Freedom Coalition tells NewsMax.com.

Noting his group had generated public outrage directed at Comedy Central, its cable provider and its parent company, Murray said: "First they say they’ll feature the Bush girls as lesbian lovers. Then they say, well, we may feature them, but not as lesbian lovers. Then they say we may not include the twins at all."

"You just wait and see," he adds. "First they’ll start out with a mild approach, and then little by little, they’ll get bolder and bolder. They’ll push the envelope until they get what they had wanted to do in the first place."

According to columnist Brent Bozell:

" 'In the first episode, which is about abortion,' reports the Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes, 'the antiabortion movement is led by an aborted fetus. In the second episode, about the death penalty, the president stages a mock execution for his frat buddies ... but accidentally fries someone.'

"In a December interview with the Hartford Courant, Parker remarked that he and Stone were 'really excited about' what they could do with the roles of President Bush's twin college-age daughters. 'We are just going to find the two hottest [actresses] and make [the characters] always just about to make out' with each other, he promised.

"That was December. In mid-January, Parker described as 'false' the 'rumors' – 'rumors,' it should be noted, supported by his statement to the Hartford paper – that the twins would be portrayed as incestuous lesbians. He also said that 'someone in the Bush administration' had been in touch with him, adding, 'Of course, when you get calls from Washington telling you, Don't you dare do it, it makes us want to do it all the more.' "

Noting the producers have boasted their new series would be "barely legal," Murray says that if Comedy Central, which is one of the "fringe" cable channels, gets away with this, before long the barriers will fall in the more mainstream comedy shows, such as NBC’s "Saturday Night Live."

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush have pleaded for privacy for their daughters. Generally, the networks accommodated the desire of the Clintons to accord privacy to their daughter, Chelsea. It is not at all certain the same will apply to the Bush family, which enjoys less support in the entertainment industry than the Clintons did.

Murray urges the public to continue to protest the program "That’s My Bush" to Comedy Central itself at Mail@ComedyCentral.com and to Steven Case of the parent company, America Online (bought by Time Warner) at Stevecase@aol.com.

Muray’s skepticism that Comedy Central is merely out for good clean fun is prompted by what he sees as the channel’s track record. Parker and his "That’s My Bush" co-producer Matt Stone are also the creators of the Comedy Central cartoon series "South Park," described by the New York Post as "notoriously raunchy."

Florida attorney and sometime NewsMax.com writer Jack Thompson describes that program as "calculated insanity," where a young boy dies in every episode but returns the following week.

Thompson has represented two families who claim to have lost children who died imitating scenes in "South Park." In one case, Antoinette Kilduff said her 13-year-old boy, Bryce, hanged himself while imitating a "South Park" episode.

"And it wasn’t suicide either," says Thompson, who says the boy tried, without success, to get loose. "The investigation proved that."

Thompson’s other client in the "South Park" case was a New Jersey family wishing to avoid having their names published. Both clients ultimately decided against litigation because it was "too painful" for them to go through with it.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Media Bias
George W. Bush

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