After disability advocate groups raised issues with Tropic Thunder‘s repeated use of the word “retard” and other offensive terms to describe a role played by Ben Stiller’s character in the movie, DreamWorks has agreed to meet with them. It’s almost certainly too late to change the actual film, which comes out a week from tomorrow, but Vulture reports that the first casualty appears to be the promotional website for Simple Jack, one of the fake movies-within-the-movie in which Ben Stiller plays a mentally handicapped adult, and which has the unfortunate tagline “Once upon a time…there was a retard.”

The only thing more confounding than the total predictability of this news is the fact that the Tropic Thunder red band trailer, which was released in mid-May, contains more than enough clues to the potential offensiveness of the Simple Jack subplot. If advocate groups had acted then, maybe there would have been time to change the actual movie and not just remove a website. Which raises an insane question: is it possible that Tropic Thunder‘s over 30 million dollar overhyping campaign failed to reach everyone in America?

Tropic Thunder’ Abandoning ‘Simple Jack’? -- Vulture
... offended by the use of the word retard in tropic thunder it s hard to
his 40 minute set looking like simple jack from tropic thunder
simple-jack
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So, we walked two blocks north from HI and ate lunch at Jack-in-the-Box. At 1:15 PM the bellman appeared ... Computer Classes: Trevor is one of the most patient teachers I've ever had. He keeps it simple for the most tech-challenged person.
Comments (7)
  1. You have to ask? Of course it failed to reach people.

    • simple  |   Posted on Aug 6th, 2008

      Retards are a big enough weight on society without morons closing down websites in their name. I’m sure these advocates are gonna feel good about themselves and the attention theiy’re getting, but I don’t see how their work will help disabled people. Let’s face it, they can’t really use the internet to see this website.

  2. simple^2  |   Posted on Aug 12th, 2008

    Not just retards are a weight on society; also hemophiliacs, hillbillies, cripples, blind people, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, foreigners, tobacco users, drug pushers, alcoholics, paraplegics, AIDS & HIV positive people, Negroes, rednecks, homeless people, wounded firefighters, welfare recipients, pot smokers, Hispanics – especially Mexicans and Puerto Ricans, people in comas, Alzheimer patients, autistic people, polio victims, wounded soldiers, spammers, drug addicts, senile old people, toddlers, slow drivers, wounded police, D-students, amputees, deaf people, midgets, overpaid CEOs, square-dancers, slow golf foursomes ahead of you, Star Trek fans, pregnant women, and members of Congress — and that’s just to get started.

  3. and full retard shirts now available at http://www.fullretard.com

  4. Jorge  |   Posted on Jan 5th, 2009

    MAKE AN ACTUAL SIMPLE JACK MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  5. Ricky Retardo  |   Posted on Aug 8th, 2009

    How bogus! The most offensive thing I’ve ever seen relative to the mentally disabled is “Special Olympics”! How much more cruel can it get than to force a bunch of retards to run and jump for the amusement of their so-called “advocates”!

  6. Mason  |   Posted on Aug 25th, 2009

    The only real “retards” are the advocates.

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