Jerry Lewis Annual Telethon Raises Record $45,759,368 : Charity: The Muscular Dystrophy Assn. was concerned about breaking last year’s mark after protests by victims of the disease and a Bush appointee.

Jerry Lewis raised a record $45,759,368 Monday through his annual muscular dystrophy telethon despite scattered protests from victims of the disease and a White House appointee.

“The American people are listening,” Lewis said as the tote board registered the new record, nearly $688,000 over last year’s record. “They heard me.”

Lewis’ voice broke with emotion as he praised his staff, saying: “They share my passion.”

The Muscular Dystrophy Assn. had been concerned about breaking the 1991 telethon mark because of a series of protests by muscular dystrophy victims and a Bush Administration official.

Lewis said it was important that this year’s telethon collect “one dollar more” than last year’s tote record of $45,071,857. Last year, corporate sponsors presented checks for an additional $65 million. This year’s figure for additional corporate donations was not immediately tabulated.

Lewis kicked off the 21 1/2-hour event Sunday night with an appeal for Hurricane Andrew victims and a promise that this year’s show would be the best ever despite ongoing controversy.

Muscular Dystrophy Assn. spokesman Jim Brown said President Bush had not responded to a letter from MDA Executive Director Robert Ross, who wrote Bush on Sunday objecting to criticism of the telethon by Evan Kemp, chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Ross said Kemp’s criticism could be “grievously damaging” to the 27th annual telethon. He called the comments an “outright rebuke” to the President.

“I have always had problems with the pity approach to raising money,” Kemp, who suffers from a form of muscular dystrophy, told the Associated Press on Friday.

Kemp’s criticism brought a quick response from Bob Sampson, a muscular dystrophy victim and MDA vice president. Sampson, 67, a former vice president of United Airlines who has lost two grandchildren to muscular dystrophy, has become known for his emotional appeals on Lewis telethons over the last 25 years.

“I’ve given up two grandchildren to this disease,” Sampson said Saturday. “How dare they try to impugn the work of this organization.”

Kemp and other muscular dystrophy victims are critical of Lewis for an article he wrote in 1990 in which he envisioned himself as a muscular dystrophy victim and said the experience would make him half a person.

Muscular dystrophy is a chronic disease characterized by the wasting of muscles. It afflicts about 1 million Americans.

In Hollywood, 20 protesters picketing the KTLA television studios claimed that they were attacked by a group of telethon supporters who knocked a disabled woman from her wheelchair.

Punches were thrown when the protesters tried to hand flyers to members of a Glendale motorcycle club, said Paul Steven Miller, a lawyer with the Western Law Center for Disabilities Rights.

No one was injured and no police complaints were filed after the Sunday night incident, Miller said.

“The disability rights movement and the telethon pity parade are on a head-on collision course,” said Marta Russell, who wore a sign reading “More Harm Than Good.”

She said people with disabilities want work, not charity or pity.