leekohler
Sep 18, 2009, 12:56 PM
To nobody's surprise, the upcoming release of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" is being met with controversy.
The film is based on the book by Tucker Max, a self-proclaimed jerk who turned his sex life and drunken nights into a New York Times best seller. The University of Chicago graduate has frequently been accused of promoting rape culture and now the ads for his film have stirred up the same reaction.
Ads for "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" are being removed from 250 CTA buses, according to CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney. Gaffney told RedEye CTA columnist Tracy Swartz that CTA felt the ads didn't meet the guidelines set by the transit board.
The ads include a variety of slogans, including "Deaf girls can't hear you coming" and "Strippers will not tolerate disrespect (just kidding!)."
My colleague, Eric Zorn, saw the "deaf girl" ad and wrote "It reads like a helpful hint in a predator's handbook and strikes me as being in very bad taste. But perhaps I'm missing something. Anyone?"
Max caught wind of Zorn's comments and wrote on Twitter "it's called a [expletive] joke." As for the film's ads being pulled from CTA buses, Max wrote "Look at this [garbage]. I am pissed."
On Friday, Max addressed the CTA's decision in a press release.
"This is the perfect example of a ridiculous group of kooky activists bullying the media into propagating a minority viewpoint," Max said. "They've purposely manipulated my work -- which is a satire and a comedy -- to further their own agenda and shamelessly exploited the rape and domestic violence issues to get national attention."
Max went on to say that half of his fans are women.
"Women are not stupid," he said. "They would not support me if I hated them, and the fact that they come out in the hundreds of thousands to buy my book and go to my movie is proof that I not only love women, but my art is in fact pro-woman. The facts are on my side because I am right."
According to the press release, the studios behind the movie (Rudius Media and Darko Entertainment) will now double their internet advertising budget and focus on "more open minded cities."
The movie comes out Sept. 25, which is the same day I'm scheduled to go bar hopping with Max for an article.
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/about-last-night/2009/09/cta-pulling-tucker-max-movie-ads.html
Christ- don't we have better things to do than worry about a movie? Granted- Max is offensive (not to mention, very hot ;)), but so what?
The film is based on the book by Tucker Max, a self-proclaimed jerk who turned his sex life and drunken nights into a New York Times best seller. The University of Chicago graduate has frequently been accused of promoting rape culture and now the ads for his film have stirred up the same reaction.
Ads for "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" are being removed from 250 CTA buses, according to CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney. Gaffney told RedEye CTA columnist Tracy Swartz that CTA felt the ads didn't meet the guidelines set by the transit board.
The ads include a variety of slogans, including "Deaf girls can't hear you coming" and "Strippers will not tolerate disrespect (just kidding!)."
My colleague, Eric Zorn, saw the "deaf girl" ad and wrote "It reads like a helpful hint in a predator's handbook and strikes me as being in very bad taste. But perhaps I'm missing something. Anyone?"
Max caught wind of Zorn's comments and wrote on Twitter "it's called a [expletive] joke." As for the film's ads being pulled from CTA buses, Max wrote "Look at this [garbage]. I am pissed."
On Friday, Max addressed the CTA's decision in a press release.
"This is the perfect example of a ridiculous group of kooky activists bullying the media into propagating a minority viewpoint," Max said. "They've purposely manipulated my work -- which is a satire and a comedy -- to further their own agenda and shamelessly exploited the rape and domestic violence issues to get national attention."
Max went on to say that half of his fans are women.
"Women are not stupid," he said. "They would not support me if I hated them, and the fact that they come out in the hundreds of thousands to buy my book and go to my movie is proof that I not only love women, but my art is in fact pro-woman. The facts are on my side because I am right."
According to the press release, the studios behind the movie (Rudius Media and Darko Entertainment) will now double their internet advertising budget and focus on "more open minded cities."
The movie comes out Sept. 25, which is the same day I'm scheduled to go bar hopping with Max for an article.
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/about-last-night/2009/09/cta-pulling-tucker-max-movie-ads.html
Christ- don't we have better things to do than worry about a movie? Granted- Max is offensive (not to mention, very hot ;)), but so what?
