As a movement to boycot Ender’s Game grew last week, Lionsgate said they will host “a benefit premiere” for the adaptation Orson Scott Card novel. The film comes out in November.
GLAAD, the one of the leading groups fighting for equality for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, reviewed the script and ruled: “to our knowledge, there is no anti-gay content in the film.” Deadline Hollywood had a statement from the movie studio:
As proud longtime supporters of the LGBT community, champions of films ranging from Gods and Monsters to The Perks of Being a Wallflower and a company that is proud to have recognized same-sex unions and domestic partnerships within its employee benefits policies for many years, we obviously do not agree with the personal views of Orson Scott Card and those of the National Organization for Marriage. However, they are completely irrelevant to a discussion of Ender’s Game. The simple fact is that neither the underlying book nor the film itself reflect these views in any way, shape or form.
Geeks OUT, one of the groups leading the boycott movement last week, responded in a blunt post: “Lionsgate’s Statement Changes Nothing:”
The simple fact is that Skip Ender’s Game has never been about the content of the novel or the film Ender’s Game. It’s about money. It’s about the money the company has already paid to Card and the potential millions he and the National Organization for Marriage stand to make off of the success of the film—our money.
What do you think? GLAAD responded with this statement:
Lionsgate is right to repudiate Orson Scott Card and the National Organization for Marriage’s divisive and anti-LGBT tactics that make NOM a toxic organization, with which no fair-minded company or individual would align. At a time when well-funded activist organizations like NOM inflict harm on countless American families, corporate America and the entertainment industry are increasingly supporting efforts lead by the LGBT community to work against their anti-LGBT agenda.