God Out of Ten Commandments

Disney Radio Removes Diety Reference in Promenade Pictures Spot

Oct 18, 2007

Promenade Pictures CEO is mad at Disney Radio for removing the line "chosen by God" from a trailer for CGI animated film The Ten Commandments.

Promenade Pictures CEO Frank Yablans is furious that Disney Radio removed a reference to God in a commercial for the film The Ten Commandments.

"I could go to jail for what I would like to do to them," Yablans told WorldNet Daily, a conservative online news site. "It's just outrageous that in the United States of America they won't allow the name of God."

Promenade Pictures has produced a CGI animated version of the Old Testament story, with Ben Kingsley voicing the narrator, Christian Slater as Moses, Alfred Molina voicing the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses, and Elliott Gould playing God. The movie comes out Friday.

"Omit the Following Line" 'Chosen by God.'"

In an email to Promenade Pictures, Disney Radio sales associate Jason Atkinson recommended the studio swap out the line "chosen by God" in a 30-second trailer for the flick and drop in "from Promenade Pictures." According to Disney, it made more sense in the context of the trailer.

"Our BS&P (broadcast standards and practices department) said both scripts need to include the studio mention and omit the following line: 'CHOSEN BY GOD,'" Atkinson said in the email.

Yablans, who co-founded Buena Vista Pictures with Walt Disney in the late 1950s, claimed the animation legend would have fired the person who pulled the word "God" from the ad. "Better yet, he never would have hired him."

Before forming Promenade Pictures, Yablans was best known for being the head of Paramount during what is now referred to as their 1970's "Golden Years." He greenlit and produced such flicks as The Godfather, Chinatown, Serpico, Death Wish, Lady Sings the Blues, and the original The Longest Yard, starring Burt Reynolds.

He also ran Paramount Television, which had hits with Star Trek, The Odd Couple, Mission: Impossible, and the pilot of Happy Days.

Script Confusion?

Radio Disney spokeswoman Patti McTeague said that the line "From Promenade Productions" needed to be included, and by inserting it in the place of "chosen by God," it would help prevent confusion in the text. The lines before "chosen by God" listed four voice talents, she pointed out, and listeners might think that the actors, not Moses, were "chosen by God."

McTeague said the script change had nothing to do with censoring God. She said it was done to make the text more understandable and because Disney corporate policy requires including the name of the production company in any ad.

"We don't change the script for anybody," she said. "We make suggested edits to comply with our guidelines."

Yablans said that only Radio Disney objected to the original script. Other media outlets ran the ad as is. "If the script was suitable to everyone else," he says, "it was suitable to them."

Promenade Productions president and COO Cindy Bond said that her contact with the media buyer, Tori Davis of New and Improved Media, that Disney would not play the spot unless the change was made. When she asked if she could cancel the placement, Disney replied that "The radio schedule is booked and non-cancellable."

Liberty Counsel Starts Protest Petition

Liberty Counsel, a right-wing organization that believes that Church and State shouldn't be separated, has launched a petition drive against Radio Disney in response to the controversy. It asks that Radio Disney "stop its ridiculous censorship of the word 'God.'"

Organization founder and president Mathew D. Staver said, in a statement, that Radio Disney promotes movies with "references to mythical gods, Tiki gods, Navaho gods and animal gods."

It goes on to say that Disney bills itself as the "ultimate music environment for kids and families," but its recent action "offends families who believe that Moses was chosen by the God of the Bible."

The copyright of the article God Out of Ten Commandments in Hollywood Animated Films is owned by Dominic von Riedemann. Permission to republish God Out of Ten Commandments in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.