INFORMATION
INDEX
This page is designed as a support page for the
XENITES AGAINST CENSORSHIP
MAILING LIST
This XAC Index is a collection of selected posts to the XAC list.
It is presented to provide a point of reference for persons seeking information about the movement to combat censorship of Xena Warrior Princess.
At present there are emails for the 6th, through the 9th of April 1999.
Complied by JacQuest
From: Laurie-Ann Cota <lemnear@home.com>
Just thought I would pass this on!!
Laurie-Ann
Sharon Delaney has asked that the following letter be passed on to all
the
ngs and mailing lists..
+++++++
To All Concerned,
Renaissance Pictures and its business partners are not insensitive to the
concerns of Hindus worldwide. The earnest and understandable efforts of
some Hindus to convey their distress over the depiction of Krishna in the
Xena episode, "The Way," were blurred by the intolerant attitudes in which
the issue was initially couched.
On February 23, 1999, the Xena production staff was sent a letter fromTustas
Krishnadas, Press Secretary of the World Vaishnava Association. In his
letter, he wrote that the Xena episode, "The Way," which, at the time of
his letter had not yet been screened, was . . .
"offensive in two ways: (1) It treats Lord Krishna, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, speaker of the scripture Bhagavad-gita, as fictional, and
(2) since in this episode Lord Krishna is engaged in fictional activities of
helping Xena reunite with Gabrielle, who is obviously her lesbian lover,
it makes it appear that Lord Krishna and the Vedic religion approve of and
give blessings to homosexual relationships, which is completely false."
While the first point is certainly worth serious discussion, the second point
was difficult not to treat as just another piece of hate mail.
Over the years, we at Renaissance Pictures have read thousands of
letters protesting our depiction of interracial love affairs; our portrayal of
Cleopatra as black; of Hercules' and Xena's tolerance of others'religious,
ideological, or sexual leanings. We have even received criticism of the
diverse ethnicities which we choose to have people our villages. Why we do
not respond to letters of that nature is obvious. However, by not
responding to this letter, we were then made the target of misinformation and outright
lies.
Every critic has a personal agenda. Many agendas are worthy of
consideration. However, those born out of bigotry and intolerance must be
fought. To those Hindus we offended, our apology stands. To those with an
agenda of intolerance, this is not a victory.
Respectfully,
Robert Tapert
Executive Producer
Renaissance Pictures