'Bully' Petition: 20 Members Of Congress Sign Petition To Drop 'R' Rating

17-year-old Katy Butler's campaign to change the 'R' rating of the movie Bully to 'PG-13' made major headway last week when her petition received more than 275,000 signatures. More than 200,000 of those were delivered by Butler to the Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) Los Angeles office last week, where Butler also met with Joan Graves, the MPAA's Head of Classification and Ratings Division.

Butler's mission has garnered the attention of many well-known public figures, sparking a national movement of people calling on the MPAA to drop the 'R' rating. Representative Mike Honda of California issued a letter to the MPAA, which was signed by 20 additional Members of Congress and supports Katy's petition.

The letter reads: “We are writing to express our sincere disappointment in the MPAA’s decision to issue an ‘R’ rating for the soon-to-be-released documentary Bully. This important project shows the real life anguish of many teenagers in this country who are tormented, harassed, and bullied by their peers,”

The high school student from Michigan is no stranger to bullying. After coming out as a lesbian in middle school, Butler was bullied so severely that she ended up with a broken finger after students slammed her hand in a locker. Butler's goal is to increase awareness about bullying, but she fears many teens could be hampered from seeing Bully with the current 'R' rating, hence her Change.org petition initiative.

"This film is too important to silence with an 'R' rating," Butler said in a press release. "Everyone should have a chance to see Bully."

On The Ellen Degeneres Show last Wednesday, Ellen made it clear that she was in favor of reducing Bully's rating to 'PG-13.' She urged her viewers and 9 million Twitter followers to sign Katy's petition. And Ellen wasn't the only celebrity who took to Twitter to express their support for the film. Demi Lovato encouraged her follower to sign the Change.org petition, and Justin Bieber tweeted, "just watched the #BULLY movie. really intense. really powerful. we need to stand up for eachother." New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees also rallied behind Butler and joined the cause on Twitter.

Even the film's producer, Harvey Weinstein, put his two cents into the 'R'-rating controversy. He argued that the rating restricts the teen audience which the documentary targets. The Weinstein Co. appealed the MPAA's decision, but it was declined. He has since threatened to withdraw his films from the MPAA ratings system, which could threaten the commercial and artistic success of his future films. However, he does have hope that the rating of Bully will ultimately be changed.

"We're hoping that smart people come to their senses," Weinstein told the Associated Press.

Comments

[Shauna Winters]

04:19 PM on 09/27/2012

Bully's use R rated language and conduct, when they torment and harass kids! This movie is a true account of what children experience – hence to give it a rating that eliminates the ability to view seems very absurd.

Perhaps the MPAA board members should ask the parents and kids who actually took part in the movie, what their thought is on the rating and who should be allowed to see it. Just sayin!

[starchildjg24]

02:40 PM on 03/23/2012

An "R" rating never slowed me down in seeing a movie. What's wrong with the kids today? Surely they are as sharp as I was way back then! I mean, you might have to use a little ingenuity and speed.....

[cjcruz]

07:03 PM on 03/23/2012

but the point is...an R rated movie can't be played in schools. That was the intent.

[starchildjg24]

08:34 PM on 03/23/2012

It was? I didn't get that from the article.

[Khaos Spence]

12:24 PM on 03/23/2012

Idk what caused the R rating can someone inform me about this?

[Lisa J Brazier]

10:43 AM on 03/21/2012

My oldest daughter was in the 6th grade when I get a call from her telling me one of her friends killed himself. He went home and hung him his self in there family garage. He did this because he was being bullied, my daughter was soooooo upset, I told her nothing was worth dying over. Im so lucky that all i have tried to teach my girls is that they can tell me ANYTHING and that they do, but some kids cant do that with there parents, THIS MOVIE SHOULD BE VIEWED IN OUR SCHOOLS, R RATED BECAUSE OF CUSS WORDS, TRUST ME THESE KIDS SAY THOSE WORDS WHY THEY ARE AT SCHOOL, THEY SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT THE BULLIES INSTEAD OF CURSING. PLEASE DROP THE RATING SO THIS CAN BE VIEWED IN SCHOOLS. THANK YOU LISA B CHATHAM IL

[arussel7]

02:50 AM on 03/18/2012

How the MPAA can justify their position when they're constantly giving PG-13 ratings to the insurmountable amount of violence spewed on our kids. Like the PG-13 rating for The Hunger Games, a movie about sexily clad teenagers slaughtering each other -- Yet Bully, a documentary how bullying has impacted five families, and which led two children to commit suicide gets an R rating because of the F-word being used six times?

This powerful documentary has the potential help millions of kids - and let the 13 million+ kids currently being bullied know they are not alone. Give us parents some credit that we can use this documentary, six F-words and all as teachable moments.

As a society we need to wake up and realize this is no longer the bullying problems of yesteryear. It IS sadly one of the largest problems our kids face today - If we don't allow solutions right now, this problem exacerbated by the continued desensitization of our kids (via technologies amongst other factors) will descend over us like massive Tsunami.

It's time to get this out of the shadows, STOP seeing this as kids will be kids and hope it will just go away - I ask, what is the magic number for more kids to die, or suffer because they do not feel safe going to school before we as a society decide it is time to deal with this head on?

MPAA - do the right thing - become part of the solution.

[kkoie]

08:29 AM on 03/14/2012

Reality is rated R based on MPAA standards, yet my 11 year old kid lives through it every day. She is not accompanied by an adult 100% of the time.

[RossEllis]

08:02 AM on 03/14/2012

As the leading national anti-bullying organization in the country, we are grateful to to Representative Mike Honda for spearheading Congress to ask the the MPAA to change the rating of the "Bully" movie.

Some don't understand what all this attention is about.
• 1 out of 4 teens are Bullied.
• 9 out of 10 LGBT students experienced harassment at school and online.
• As many as 160,000 students stay home on any given day because they're afraid of being bullied.
• 43% of kids have been bullied online.
• 97% of middle schoolers are bullied online.
• 47% of of older youth 18-24 are cyberbullied.
• 35% of kids have been threatened online.
• Every 30 minutes a teenager attempts suicide due to bullying.
• About 47 teens are bullied every 5 minutes.
• Victims of cyberbullying show more signs of depression than other bullying victims.
• Cyberbullying is on the rise in dramatic numbers
• 282,000 students have reportedly been attacked in high schools each month.
• 71 percent of students report bullying as an ongoing problem.
• "Bullycide" is the suicide as a result of being bullied. The number of kids and teens who have committed "bullycide" is alarming
• Almost half of all students fear harassment or bullying in the bathroom.

That is why the "Bully" movie is so important!

Ross Ellis
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
STOMP Out Bullying
www.stompoutbullying.org

[cameron d]

08:12 PM on 03/13/2012

The MPAA needs to be abolished.

[lj9283]

06:48 PM on 03/13/2012

There are posters on this thread who are wrongly  supposing that this Documentary, directed by Lee Hirsh, and to be released in 2012 is the trashy film "Bully" that was released in 2001.

If you are in the general public you HAVE NOT SEEN THIS FILM, as it has yet to be released.

""Bully," directed by Lee Hirsch, is an examination of school bullying that follows five kids and families over the course of a school year. It received the rating, which restricts kids under the age of 17 from seeing it without an accompanying adult, because of six expletives."

The film that was released in 2001 a B-Movie rated at 51% by Rotten Tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bully/

[lj9283]

08:08 PM on 03/13/2012

This documentary is scheduled for release March 30, 2012.

[Red45]

10:11 PM on 03/13/2012

Thank you!! Good info.

[stepheniegwen]

06:14 PM on 03/13/2012

There's a documentary out there ("This Film is Not Yet Rated") about the MPAA and how ridiculous the organization is in and of itself; how their ratings aren't based on logic, rather moral inclinations (the folks are incredibly religious).

Loads of violent imagery gets ok-ed, but anything sexual is slapped with an R rating.

[Nolana]

09:59 PM on 03/14/2012

The MPAA needs to be done away with. The power this small group wields over the films we see is astonishing, and their omerta-like code of silence and secrecy is downright scary.

The film "The King's Speech" got an R rating because the f word is used several times...even though it's in a context of speech therapy and in no way insulting or violent. The MPAA is breathtakingly stupid.

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

06:02 PM on 03/13/2012

They give movies R ratings because of language? Definitely anyone over 13 has heard 'bad language' and probably heard it often.
Ridiculous censorship of the real world of teenagers.

[TruerWords]

03:02 PM on 03/13/2012

Any film on bullying should be rated according to the target audience--school aged kids. Bullies and others are probably more likely to get the anti-bully message through a film rather than through their parents.

[Danny Wier]

12:43 PM on 03/13/2012

I was bullied, mostly verbally but occasionally physically, throughout middle and high school because of a mere rumor that I was gay. I felt pressured to "prove" I was heterosexual by putting on that whole B.S. macho act. That's the way it was in my hometown, and many others in America and the world.

I wish there was this kind of awareness when I was in school, but I'm glad there is now. And shame on those who want to stand in the way of awareness because just talking about bullying or kids being gay is too "controversial".

[Red45]

10:12 PM on 03/13/2012

Great post. f+f

[the grange gorman]

11:07 AM on 03/13/2012

Why not show the movie in schools ?

[lj9283]

06:33 PM on 03/13/2012

Because schools can't show film's with an R Rating to Minors.

[KAO22]

07:35 AM on 03/13/2012

I heard a lot about this movie so I finally picked it up and watched it. Although it does send a very clear hard message about bullying - there is excessive violence and frontal nudity with both men and women. I say keep the R rating and watch it with your kids. Many 13 year olds may not be able to handle the material as well as others.

[PapaRocky]

12:30 PM on 03/13/2012

Considering what most 13 year olds are exposed to on a daily basis in public schools and on the Internet, I suspect they can handle it just fine. It's their PARENTS that have the problem ...

[KAO22]

01:31 PM on 03/13/2012

I disagree. Of course many young teens could handle this no problem but much depends on the socio-economic group. There are still many young teens who have not been exposed to such violence and sexual situations. Why not keep the R and let the parents decide after seeing it themselves?

[GoodbyeRubyTuesday]

06:04 PM on 03/13/2012

Thanks for your post. I thought the rating was only because of language; the article does not clarify why the rating was given.

[KAO22]

09:28 PM on 03/13/2012

Ruby - my apologies. Apparently the movie I am speaking of is different than this one. I saw the version with Brad Renfro - I was informed this is a documentary of the same title and same story but different film. Sorry for the misinformation.