Adoption activists protest Fox show

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/12/27/DDGNIAGO9P1.DTLThe Fox network, which drew complaints earlier this year for reality shows about gay impostors and a dwarf looking for a bride, has provoked an organized campaign against its newest reality-show creation, "Who's Your Daddy?"

Angered over a show they say trivializes the complex feelings surrounding adoption, a loose coalition of adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents has launched a nationwide effort to force Fox to cancel the show's Jan. 3 broadcast.

In the show, an adult woman adopted as an infant has a chance to win $100, 000 if she can correctly choose her biological father from among eight men. If she chooses a fake, he will win the money. Five other father-and-child reunions have been taped but not scheduled.

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EDIT sorry about the link.

Here is the rest of the story;

Critics have deluged the network with e-mails and have requested a sit- down meeting with Fox executives. They say they are contacting advertisers and the show's producers, Hallock & Healy Productions.

A San Francisco adoptee, Ron Morgan, is organizing a Jan. 2 protest -- "Honk If You're My Daddy" -- outside Fox Television Studios in Los Angeles. "This is a new low for the Fox network," said David Youtz, president of Families With Children From China, in a letter sent to Fox President Peter Chernin on Tuesday. "It's hard to imagine a more callous kind of exploitation than the treatment of this most private moment as a crude entertainment."

Without having seen the show, most protesters lashed out against the title, the use of the phrase "real dad" in a Fox news release (implying, they say, that an adoptive father is not real) and the concept of rewarding adoptees with large amounts of cash for selecting the correct birth parent.

As of Tuesday, an estimated 5,000 e-mails had been sent to the cable network, most using a formatted protest letter provided by As Simple as That, an adoption advocacy group.

Fox executives in Los Angeles on Tuesday issued a statement:

"It is not the producers' or network's intention to offend anyone, but clearly the title of this special is attention-grabbing -- possibly contributing to controversy. It is not indicative, however, of the special's actual content. The willing and informed participants are some of the tens of millions of adopted Americans unable to reunite with their biological parent(s). They seized the opportunity to participate, and the result is compelling.

Fox executives declined to say whether they would be willing to meet with representatives of the adoptive community, or reconsider the scheduled Jan. 3 airing of "Who's Your Daddy?"

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*2nd Lt. Bush awarded Co. Medal of Honor*


2nd Lieutenant Bush was awarded the “Coors Medal of Honor” for valoriously defending Margaritaville from an unlikely Cuban invasion during Spring Break 1972, with complete disregard for his own health (liver) and safety (passing out in the alley).

Lieutenant Bush's additional military decorations include the Pabst Blue Ribbon with Salted Peanut Clusters, and the Columbian Gilded Coca Leaf with oak leaves, swords and diamonds.

2nd L.T. Bush's C.O., a Captain Morgan, said "I don't recall him.."

and I'm rarely offended - more often amused at the network's tastelessness. But this crosses so many lines.

Ugly, ugly, ugly

...I'm in agreement with the complaint. This is pretty tasteless. Why does FOX offer such right-leaning news coverage, and horrible, inappropriate programming? Mind you, I'm all for freedom of expression, even if a show sucks in a big way, but FOX??? Why is their programming so risque?

n/t

I guess the sleazy shows make a profit, and that's all they care about. Screw the moral values...if a show about greased midget tossing will make a buck, let's DO IT...
</sarcasm>

for harassing people who want to build a life together or want to worship as they choose or want to speak up for the oppressed. Tasteless, insipid television programming? Why that's just good ole entertainment! <rolleyes>

It boggles my mind that the Simpsons and Arrested Development are on Fox.

the rest is for show.

to an otherwise possibly forgetable show. Sigh :(

and air public executions...

Don't give them any ideas!

and believe every lying word that is uttered? How many of them connect the dots to FOX's outrageous programming with their outrageous news broadcasts?

precious few!

Sometimes, it's a disgusting spectacle that you just can't tear yourself away from--like football.

where people are paid huge amounts of money only to end up permanently maimed and brain damaged like...boxing. x(

I don't rubberneck car wrecks either

regardless of what anyone may wish to admit it,
they are whores.

Somehow it doesn't surprise me that the 'Moral Majority' likes to watch whores.

it leads to incest. when you don't know who your brothers and sisters are, you might end up having sex with them inadvertently. or something equally insane.

i think keyes' attitude sums up that of a lot of right-wingers. adopted children aren't "real" somehow.

though i'm not sure they can, i'll be curious to see if fox can sink any lower than this. they've got to be reaching the bottom of the barrel soon.

...and there is no bottom of the barrel. The only deity that fox worships is the almighty dollar, and wherever it is, it goes.

so where was a joke made?

yesterday. My husband says he doesn't blame the network. He blames the idiots for tuning in and watching the shit.

I blame the network and the idiots.

I can't count the many ways this is offensive to me. Adoption searches are very anquishing, emotionally draining experiences ...take it from me...after searching over 50 years... I finally found my family, I was 2 years too late to meet my Mother, because of adoption laws. My advice to adoptees searching..NEVER give up the search! ...Oh, and Fox sucks.

I am right there with you. Nothing in this world would please me more than to meet my firstborn son, who is finally over 21. Not like that, though. Gross.

Anything for a rating and a buck. I'll keep searching the old fashioned way, TYVM.

offer - not

Sadly, we know its not and I'm not suprised.

Just when you think Fox has outdone itself in the tacky/tasteless department. Sad, so sad. What's next?

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

If people CHOOSE to go on that show--then let them. If people choose to WATCH this--then let them do that too. As a consumer you have a little thing called an off /on switch. I'd suggest you use that rather than spend a huge amount of energy on a tasteless show that will most likely be pulled within a few weeks.

I see this as being comparable to the argument about pornography. As long as nobody is forced into it, and as long as nobody is forced to view it--then there isn't much you can do about it, IMO, except refuse to support it financially. If it dies due to lack of interest then it would seem that a lot of other people share your views.

Something I am wondering about, however, in that article, they say, "The willing and informed participants are some of the tens of millions of adopted Americans unable to reunite with their biological parent(s).

Does this mean these contestants (what really IS the appropriate term here?) are people who are doing this as a last ditch effort to find a biological family? If that is the case, I can see how people might actually consider going on that show just in the hope of finding their birth parents...


Laura

As a mother who became one thanks to adoption, I was appalled by this show's concept and have already complained to Fox about it. I got a canned response about how my opinion was important and thank you for expressing it. Fox sucks.