MEDIA WATCH | THE WONDERFUL COMPANY

Mr. Resnick, Don’t Let Fiji Sponsor Hate

In this day and age, a company such as yours cannot fund hate and survive. Unless you want to become known as a company which sponsors violence against minority groups, please put your money where your public image is. Withdraw your support from the 2020 Emmy awards.

August 10, 2020

Stewart Resnick
Chairman
The Wonderful Company
stewart.resnick@wonderful.com

Dear Mr. Resnick,

I am certain you are aware of the more than 1,000 companies currently taking a stand in the #StopHateforProfit campaign. Yours may even be one of them.

What I imagine you are unaware of, is that you are supporting exactly that—hate—through your sponsorship of the Television Academy and its 2020 Emmy Awards.

Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath is an anti-religious, anti-Scientology, anti-Mormon, anti-Jehovah’s Witness show which has led to more than 600 threats and acts of violence against members of these religious communities—in other words, your customers.

Ms. Remini’s announcement she would be attacking Jehovah’s Witnesses in Season 3 of her show was followed by back-to-back assaults against Jehovah’s Witness houses of worship. Rifle ammunition was let loose on one, and two Olympia Kingdom Halls were burned to the ground. As a direct result of Ms. Remini’s show, Scientologists have received death threats and Scientology churches have been vandalized. Scientologist children have been bullied in schools.

One young Scientologist was murdered.

Geico, Georgia Pacific, General Motors and Ikea were a few of the companies that withdrew their advertising from the show as the interfaith community erupted in outrage. Disney, A&E’s parent company, made the right decision. There was only one further episode of Remini’s show after this—an episode postponed for months due to legal concerns over its shamelessly bigoted, discriminatory content. That episode is the one nominated this year by the Academy, and now being considered for an Emmy award.

Had such a show contained anti-Semitic content, the Academy would not dream of keeping it on the ballot.

This is an outrage, and an assault on all people of faith.

Scientologists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are your customers. Some may even be your employees. By funding this year’s Emmys, you are paying for violence against these good people and their families, friends and houses of worship.

In this day and age, a company such as yours cannot fund hate and survive.

Unless you want to become known as a company which sponsors violence against minority groups, please put your money where your public image is. Withdraw your support from the 2020 Emmy awards.

Caralyn Percy
New York, NY