On Friday I wrote a kind of editorial lambasting Jennifer Aniston for using the word “retard” in reference to herself during an interview on Regis & Kelly on Thursday. Taken along with all I’ve seen from her in interviews, her casual use of that cruel word was the last straw for me. Over two days have passed and Aniston has not issued any kind of apology or explanation. Is her publicist, Stephen Huvane, on vacation? How could her people fail to see the need to address this in a timely way? They were all over Bill O’Reilly’s ass when he criticized her for some throwaway comments on single motherhood. This is a PR issue, and it should have been dealt with on Friday at the latest.
I was inspired to write this by a comment that the people from the Special Olympics made on the earlier Jennifer Aniston story. It’s the same statement that they’ve made about this to multiple outlets, but I’m glad they visited us and it reminded me that Aniston still hasn’t issued a response. I also finally visited their website, the r-word, which asks people not to use that word and tries to help us understand how hurtful it is. Here’s what they wrote, which is worth re-reading even if you’ve already seen it:
Special Olympics is always disappointed when the R-word is used, especially by someone who is influential to society. The pervasive use of the R-word, even in an off the cuff self-deprecating manner, dehumanizes people with intellectual disabilities and perpetuates painful stereotypes that are a great source of suffering and negative stigma … We hope everyone will take our pledge to stop using the R-word and promote the inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities at www.r-word.org.
[From Comment on Celebitchy]
Sarah Palin has a son with Down’s Syndrome and she was understandably angry at Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel for using that word earlier this year. (It’s too bad she doesn’t have a black kid or maybe she would get that the “n” word is just as bad.) Emmanuel used it behind closed doors in a meeting, but it was reported in the Washington Post and seemed to be accurate. Jennifer Aniston said it in an interview and there’s video! When you do a search on Jennifer Aniston, one of the Google auto-fill recommendations is “Jennifer Aniston r word.”
Emmanuel had a private meeting with representatives from the Special Olympics and apologized. (Which Obama also did after comparing his bowling ability to the Special Olympics.) The people at the Special Olympics would surely welcome a sit down with Aniston. Is she ever going to acknowledge her mistake or try to rectify it? Yes it was a mistake and I think it’s clear from everything we know about her that she didn’t know any better. Now that she (presumably) does, is she going to own up to it and try to make it better? Or did she think she could ignore and it would just go away? If she’s not careful, the same thing could happen to her career. As I’ve said before, I to judge celebrities based on what they say and do. In this case Aniston’s lack of a response has revealed a lot to me. I would like to see a concerted effort from her to make it right. She’s not holding a political office, but she’s an international celebrity and people pay attention to the things she says.
If you’d like to learn more about this issue, I encourage you to visit the YouTube channel for the Special Olympics’ campaign on this issue. Their website is r-word.org.
Carl Lewis, Miss Teen USA, Evander Hollyfield and Alonzo Mourning on the r word (they also have videos with Joe Jonas and other celebrities, but this one explains it better)
Johnny Knoxville
Special Olympics message
And here’s a profile of a Special Olympics athlete from South Africa. I just found it pretty moving and wanted to post it.
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