A teenage boy in India is taking on A&E executives Nancy Dubuc and Paul Buccieri in a grassroots campaign against bigotry, hate and inciting violence. After seeing on-air previews of Leah Remini’s reality TV show that spreads hate about the Church of Scientology, New Delhi teenager Ram Sharma said he was “sick of” Remini’s bigoted rants. So he decided to take action, initiating a petition drive on Change.org calling for cancellation of the A&E series.
Ram describes the A&E series as a “hate-show made to create violence, with false claims… This is totally criminal! Ban it!”
The petition has quickly gained momentum with over 3,200 signatures and comments by people from many nations, one for one protesting the bigotry in the production by A&E, co-owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Media.
Ram’s courageous stance against powerful media networks on bigotry and hate speech should give everyone connected with the show pause, especially Dubuc and Buccieri who have repeatedly ignored the growing number of violent threats the show has caused. They have been told about the more than 500 incidents of threats and violence generated by their show.
Now working on the show is Myles Reiff, who was an executive producer at the notorious company that produced the Generation KKK program A&E was forced to quickly pull off the air when it was exposed that sources were paid to deliver scripted hate in fake scenes.
“If anyone thought A&E had reformed when they pulled the KKK program, they are sorely misled,” said Edward Parkin, head of STAND. “This producer was simply shifted over from one production company to another, producing equally phony content. These are all paid-for participants and it’s all scripted fiction—and this fiction is causing threats and acts of violence.”
From the comments section of the New Delhi teenager’s change.org petition calling for cancellation of the A&E Leah Remini series:
“I don’t believe people should be allowed to make false claims and slander anyone’s religion for profit.” E.A., Canada
“It’s a very good organization don’t suppress it.” A.B., India
“I think it’s a slanderous production.” S.F., USA
“I am appalled that Disney would support the production of such hate propaganda.” D.F., Canada
“No one has the right to tell anyone what to believe and create hate towards a religion.” L.M., USA
“Help against false data supporters.” T.K., Greece
“Using Scientology saved me from a dwindling spiral toward eventual ruin. And did so much more for me.” S.H., UK
“I feel that Scientology has helped me a lot in my life and I feel this program is slanted in a negative and untruthful way…” H.R., Sweden