Robin Williams attacks Catholic priests and points out lack of consequences

Jun 20, 2007 / 08:14 am

Robin Williams has decided that he won’t pay any consequences for ridiculing the Church in public, says The Catholic League. On Monday night’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Williams equated all priests with pedophiles and mocked confession.

Leno invited the actor on to his show to plug his upcoming movie “License to Wed,” in which he plays a Protestant minister who forces a couple to go through marriage preparation courses. However, the experience of portraying a minister didn’t seem to engender any respect for the clergy in him.

Williams pretended to play a game with Jay Leno where a pedophile is hidden under a cup. “Here we go. Find the priest, find the pedophile. Find the priest, find the pedophile. Here you go right now. Move ‘em around, move ‘em around. Oh, you found the pedophile.”

Williams then put his hand over his groin, saying, “You have to realize that if you are a Catholic priest, you have retired this. That’s it—no more sex.” Then he took a shot at confession: “But they are going to put you in a small dark box and people are going to tell you the nastiest sexual stuff they have done.”

Bill Donahue was angered by the fact that, “Isaiah Washington lashes out at one gay person in private, and he is banished from ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ Robin Williams lashes out against all priests in public, and he suffers no consequence.”

Pointing out that the actor has calculated the risks of targeting the Church, Donahue quoted an interview with MoviesOnline in which Williams recently said, “‘you can’t poke fun at certain religions,’ but ‘we just made major fun of the Catholic Church but hey, they don’t blow you up.’” Donahue said this makes Williams not just “a bigot and a liar” but also “a coward.”