Ann Arbor teen heads to New York City to continue 'Bully' rating plea
Greenhills School junior Katy Butler is in New York City this week to continue her efforts to get the Motion Picture Association of America to lower its "R" rating for the documentary "Bully."
Katy Butler, 17, of Ann Arbor, poses outside the Motion Picture Association of America in California March 7 with several boxes of signatures generated by her online petition.
AP photo
Butler also will be recognized by producer Harvey Weinstein at a Media Awards ceremony hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, according to a news release.
Her efforts have drawn considerable attention from public figures, including Ellen DeGeneres, Randy Jackson, Michael Jordan, NFL quarterback Drew Brees, as well as U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
The MPAA has cited strong language as the reason for the rating. Butler says the higher rating will prevent students from seeing the film when they're the ones who will benefit most from it.
Read previous AnnArbor.com coverage of Katy Butler's efforts.
Comments
deletedcomment
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 : 2:13 p.m.
I don't like how you rated my movie so I'm going to pressure you (read: bully) into changing said rating. Hypocrites for the win!
obviouscomment
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 : 1:28 p.m.
So how much school is she missing on this? Her cause is admirable but as I've said before, her asking for a different rating is wrong. She should be asking for editing to be done so that it CAN be rated differently.
TLBeadle
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 : 11:59 a.m.
WAY TO GO KATY! If this is a ploy by Weinstein to garner attention for his movie....so be it. The more people know about the documentary and the subject matter the better. The rating system is WAY off when a documentary like "Bully", which should be seen by the masses, gets an R rating for language that kids hear every day at school and "The Hunger Games" (violence, sexualization of kids) gets a PG-13 rating.
davecj
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 : 4:10 a.m.
All Harvey Weinstein has to do is 'bleep' out some language and he can get the PG-13 rating. Ratings are there for a purpose. To let parents know what the content of the film is. But then again, why would Weinstein want to do comply to the rating standards when he is getting all this free publicity for his movie by refusing to do anything!
hmsp
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 : 12:59 a.m.
You go, girl! (from a straight old guy who's behind you all the way!)