Aug 17, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The CEO of media giant Viacom has defended the airing of a T.V. special which attacks Mother Theresa and the Catholic Church saying that the episode is an example of the organization’s commitment to “artistic freedom.”
In May, the New York-based Catholic League launched a campaign against the CBS subsidiary, over program, “Holier than thou”, starring magician entertainers Penn and Teller, who paint Mother Theresa and her Sisters of Charity as “cruel, exploitative, self-serving nun[s] who ripped off the poor.”
Donahue said, “we mobilized Catholic bishops, priests, nuns, religious and lay persons to protest. And not without success: the vile episode of ‘Penn and Teller’ that we objected to, ‘Holier Than Thou,’ will never air again.”
Recently however, a hand-delivered letter from Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone has sparked renewed conflict.