Friday, August 20, 2010

Friend?

Hello everyone,

By now, most of you are aware of Jennifer Aniston's recent use of the word "retard" during a publicity tour for her latest crummy movie (sorry, I know that's a cheap shot but I couldn't help it). If you haven't seen her finest moment yet, here's the video.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing happens all too frequently. I know that Jennifer Aniston does not hate people with disabilities and did not deliberately intend to offend the disability community. However, her slip-up hints at the fact that she throws this word around casually. And that does offend me, and that does offend a whole lot of other people. And I bet it really offends the people at the Lili Claire Foundation. This foundation, based in Santa Monica, is dedicated to providing support services for families of children with disabilities. This foundation also lists Jennifer Aniston as an Honorary Board Member.

One of Oz Squad's members has asked for our help in writing to the Lili Claire Foundation and asking that Jennifer be removed from the board. And that's harsh - that's really harsh - and I have gone back and forth all day about this. But ultimately I have decided that anyone who was truly committed to helping disabled children would not casually use the R word on national television. Anyone who was truly committed to these children would have surely stricken this word from her vocabulary long ago. But not Jennifer Aniston.

I think sometimes a little slip-up like that has big consequences, and in this case, I think we should voice our displeasure and ask that she step down from the board. You can contact the Lili Claire Foundation here.