Congressman Apologizes for ‘List’ Remarks

An Oklahoma congressman apologized Wednesday “for appearing insensitive” to Holocaust atrocities when he criticized NBC for airing “Schindler’s List” during family viewing time despite its violence and nudity.

Republican Rep. Tom A. Coburn reconsidered his earlier comments after several fellow Republicans chided him and applauded NBC for airing the Oscar-winning movie about a businessman who saved 1,100 Jews from the Nazis.

“I feel terrible that my criticism of NBC for airing this movie has been misinterpreted as a criticism of ‘Schindler’s List,’ or the millions of Jews who died senselessly during the Holocaust,” he said. “To all those that I’ve offended, I offer an apology. And I personally apologize for appearing insensitive to the worst atrocities known to humankind.”

On Tuesday, the second-term lawmaker and physician who heads the Congressional Family Caucus said NBC took network television “to an all-time low, with full-frontal nudity, violence and profanity.” The network’s decision to air the movie Sunday evening should outrage parents and “decent-minded individuals everywhere,” he said.

GOP activist William J. Bennett, who has been waging a campaign against gratuitous sex and violence in entertainment media, said, “Coburn’s view obscures, even obliterates, the distinction between gratuitous violence and nudity--that is, violence and nudity to titillate--and violence and human realism essential to the telling of an important story or historical truth.”

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) said that “to equate the nudity of Holocaust victims in the concentration camps with any sexual connotation is outrageous and offensive.” NBC called Coburn’s view “frightening” and said it is proud of its telecast.