Countywide : Fox Show’s Priest Skit Triggers Boycott Effort

To Father Richard Kennedy, it was in bad taste.

A priest lusting over a woman in a confessional or chasing after nuns is out of bounds for a television comedy skit. That’s what Kennedy said Thursday as he joined others at St. Mary’s Church in Fullerton to protest against the Fox Network and its new show “House of Buggin’ “-- which aired the sketch Sunday.

“That scene was in very, very poor taste,” Kennedy said during a press conference at his church. He was joined by about a dozen Orange County residents, who called for a boycott of the program.

“The show is very disparaging and we want to encourage people not to watch that program. It is very destructive for any person, no matter what race or religion,” Kennedy said.

“House of Buggin’ ” Executive Producer Michael Bregman defended the episode about the sex-starved priest.

“We thought it was funny,” he said in a telephone interview from New York City. “We’re not denouncing Catholicism, but you must take into account that those kinds of things have happened and we’re making fun of it. . . . When you mock something, you diffuse it in a way.”

But members of the newly formed STAARS (Students, Teachers and Activists Against Racial Stereotypes) said the program promotes racism, sexism and offensive portrayals of ethnic minorities.

Fullerton College counselor Enrique Zuniga said children might watch the 8:30 p.m. program and credit the portrayals. “We are outraged and disgusted with the negative portrayals of the Chicano/Latino community and other minorities in this show,” said Javier A. Cortez, a STAARS organizer.

Bregman responded: “We’re an equal opportunity offender and if these protesters don’t like the show, they should change the channel.”