ABC Agrees to Cut Stuttering Scenes From ‘Wanda’

After receiving complaints from the National Stuttering Project, ABC-TV has agreed to cut back mockery of the stammering Michael Palin character when the network runs the comedy caper film “A Fish Called Wanda.”

The National Stuttering Project on Thursday released a letter it had received from Robin S. Graham, the director of films in ABC’s broadcast standards and practices division, in which she said that “Kevin Kline’s mockery” of Palin will be reduced by editing where possible.

An ABC spokesman, acknowledging that the letter was sent, said editing hasn’t started since the film won’t be broadcast until next season.

The film, written by John Cleese and starring Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis, had successful runs in theaters and on cable channels. In it, Ken Pile (Palin) has a severe stammer. A mocking hoodlum named Otto West (Kline) repeatedly makes fun of Ken, including threatening to eat his pet fish Wanda and mimicking his stutter.

National Stuttering Project spokesman Ira Zimmerman said that the organization “does not support blatant censorship” and had not specifically asked ABC to edit the film, although it did express its displeasure over the West character’s mockery. The group had asked ABC to add a disclaimer to the film from its producer and “the addition of programming that explains what is known about the problem of stuttering.”

The organization has also complained to the Federal Communications Commission about a March 26 story on “ABC World News Report with Peter Jennings” about Hollywood portrayals of the disabled. It said the story misused information that the organization supplied the program.