03-26-2006, 10:27 AM
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SKXtreme
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Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 1,416
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Morgan Spudner
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/ne...06-631862.html
Filmmaker talk cut by principal
By PAUL RUPPEL
The Intelligencer
French and fry weren't the only “F” words documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock used during a Hatboro-Horsham High School assembly Friday that came to an early end.
Spurlock, who embarked on a McDonald's-only, fast-food diet in his film “Super Size Me,” made what school administrators described as demeaning references to ethnicities and special needs students, in addition to foul language and talk of his sex life, before an audience filled with 800 high school students.
The Hatboro-Horsham Educational Foundation, which invited Spurlock for its Cultural and Speaker Series, decided with district officials to cancel a nighttime appearance for the general public.
“Inviting Mr. Spurlock back on stage this evening would not have been an action consistent with the mission of our school district and the foundation,” said Superintendent William Lessa.
A publicist did not return phone calls, but the agency that booked Spurlock's talk suggested the cancellation was a mutual decision.
“Mr. Spurlock has had over 60 speaking engagements for us at colleges and high schools. He's been our most successful speaker for the last two years ... I think it just wasn't a good match tonight,” said Sean Lawton, a spokesman for Keppler Speakers on Campus of Arlington, Va.
The foundation spent the afternoon contacting people who had already purchased tickets priced between $15 and $30. Full refunds are being issued. Executive director Linda Piper said it was not clear what financial impact the cancellation would have on the nonprofit organization.
The talk by Spurlock, a West Virginia-native known for his 2004 film as well as his “30 Days” television show on the cable channel FX, was timed to coincide with Hatboro-Horsham's first-ever Health and Wellness Fair. The event featuring experts from local health stores and gyms, medical professionals and related organizations was intended to disseminate information about healthy lifestyles.
Several hundred people wound their way through the displays at Friday's fair. The event continues today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.
The foundation planned more school-day tie-ins to this year's cultural groups and speaker to make sure students got more from the traditionally nighttime events.
Piper said of the school-day talk, “It was just different than what we were expecting and in conflict with what we wanted to expose the children to.”
Spurlock was a playwright, writer, director and producer living in Manhattan who had also done work for the stage and MTV before winning best director at the Sundance Film Festival for “Super Size Me.” On a McDonald's-only diet, he gained 25 pounds, increased his cholesterol by 65 points and suffered ailments that included headaches, depression and a toxic liver.
Since then, Spurlock has published a book and premiered his new television series, which places individuals in an environment unlike their upbringing, religious beliefs or profession.
High School principal Dennis Williams said students from health, physical education and consumer sciences classes — some of whom watched “Super Size Me” in class — were very excited about the filmmaker's visit.
But Williams made the call to cut the talk short Friday afternoon after remarks he deemed offensive to segments of the student population. The lights were dimmed, and Spurlock was asked to leave the stage.
Although some students laughed and applauded, the principal said he was heartened by conversations with faculty and students later that showed they “realized this was neither the proper time nor the place for what was being said, and I appreciate that.”
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I have enjoyed Morgan Spurlock's show, 30 Days, so it really disappoints me that he would make such remarks.
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