The following is a letter that has been sent to the producers of MAD-TV in response to its plans to air a "comedy" skit playing off the now well-worn and discredited stereotype of "going postal."

 

December 11, 2003



Mr. Dick Blasucci
Mr. Quincy Jones
Mr. David Salzman,
Executive Producers, MADtv
5842 Sunset Blvd., Bldg. 11, Suite 203
Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Gentlemen:

MADtv has a First Amendment right to mock and ridicule whatever subject you find amusing. That said, Fox is able to air content because the stations which carry your programming have a license to operate on publicly-owned airwaves, a license which is a privilege, not an entitlement, a license which can be revoked.

According to MADtv.com, your program will air a skit on December 13th in which:

...guest star John C. McGinley (Scrubs) appears in a sketch that features
disgruntled postal workers at odds with one another over who has the right to go on
a shooting spree first. While customers lay face down on the floor, including
bowling ball salesman and avid e-bayer, Paul Vogt, there is much heated
debate and gratuitous gunplay between postal workers Aries Spears, Michael McDonald
and John C. McGinley. Before they can come to any agreement as to who gets to
start the shooting first, a non-postal gunman enters and adds to the
confusion and gun-toting goofiness. What the heck!? And how will it all end!? Tune in
this Saturday (December 13) to see if anyone gets shot when postal workers go
postal on MADtv!

There is absolutely nothing funny about workplace violence, and your use of such a stereotype is appalling. We are a great nation with more than 290 million people. Much of our day is spent in the workplace. It follows that the social concerns which impact society in general can also be found in the workplace. It follows equally that social concerns are not related to any specific workplace or employee group.

The Postal Service is the nation's largest employer after Wal-Mart and to stigmatize 750,000 people because of rare and old events is unfair, wrong and prejudicial. Such commentaries are not funny, and humor is supposed to be an objective of a comedy show.

It's been our experience that postal workers are honest and decent people who make a complex system work well. We believe the skit is in extremely bad taste. Clever writers can, no doubt, assemble quickly better material to make the use of air time more valuable.

Sincerely,

Gene A. Del Polito
President