Arts & Entertainment

Showdown over an ‘R’ rating

New documentary on bullying leads lesbian teen on a mission

Published

14 years ago

March 22, 2012

Juliette Ebner

A promotional still from the film ‘Bully.’ (Photo courtesy the Weinstein Co.)

Katy Butler, 17, launched a Change.org petition to change the rating for the upcoming documentary “Bully” and was in D.C. last week to bring attention to her cause.

“When I saw this new movie was coming out, I thought it was so awesome, because it was about bullying and had such a great message, and then I saw that it was rated ‘R’ … it’s missing the entire target audience of the film, which is the middle and high school students,” Butler says about why she started the petition.

Filmed over the 2009-10 school year, “Bully,” directed by Lee Hirsch, follows three students who have been bullied, including one who brought a gun to school and is now in juvenile detention awaiting the outcome of her case, and two sets of parents whose sons committed suicide after being bullied.

The film’s website, thebullyproject.com, states that more than 13 million American kids will be bullied this year and three million students are absent each month because they do not feel safe in school. A disproportionate number of them are LGBT.

According to filmratings.com, a website the Motion Picture Association of America links to, “Bully” received an ‘R’ rating for “some language.” The word “fuck” is used multiple times in the film.

According to the MPAA’s classification and rating rules effective, Jan. 1, 2010, “a motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually derived words … initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context.”

One of the complaints about the rating is the difficulty pre-teens and most teenagers will have in seeing the film. While an R rating does not keep them from seeing the movie altogether, it does restrict when they can see it, since they will need a parent with them.

It is also more difficult to get schools to show R-rated films, as it requires permission slips to be signed in many school districts.

“The R rating is not a judgment on the value of any movie. The rating simply conveys to parents that a film has elements strong enough to require careful consideration before allowing their children to view it,” Joan Graves, chairman of the classification and rating administration, said in a statement released after receiving the petition.

Butler, who came out as a lesbian in middle school, has been the victim of bullying herself.

“My school didn’t really like that, they called me names … pushed me into lockers and into walls, they ended up slamming my hand into my locker and breaking my finger,” Butler says.

Some have asked why the filmmakers don’t just remove the scenes with the expletives, or censor just the word, since many say if the word was used more sparingly, the film would have received a PG-13 rating, but Butler doesn’t think that would help matters.

“They can’t take out the word, it won’t have the same message. It won’t have the same effect on the kids, parents and teachers who see this movie,” Butler says. “Those are the words that kids used everyday in school to bully each other … no one goes into schools and takes out those words.”

The MPAA also hosted a screening with D.C.-area principals and educators on March 15. The screening was followed by a panel discussion on the challenges educators face in dealing with bullying and how to best ensure that students feel safe when they are in school.

MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd (a former U.S. senator), “Bully” distributor Harvey Weinstein, “Bully” director Lee Hirsch, D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Joseph Wright, senior vice president and head of the Child Health Advocacy Institute at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, were on the panel.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Butler’s petition had garnered about 439,000 signatures.

Graves’s statement said that the MPAA shares Butler’s goal of highlighting the problems with bullying.

“Katy Butler’s efforts in bringing the issue of bullying to the forefront of a national discussion in the context of this new film are commendable and we welcome the feedback about this movie’s rating,” Graves said in the statement. “We hope that her efforts will fuel more discussion among educators, parents and children.”

Butler has met with the head of the ratings board, when she hand delivered the signed petitions.

Katy Butler was in Washington last week to encourage the MPAA to reconsider its R rating for the new documentary ‘Bully.’ (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Butler’s efforts to change the rating have been noticed by many, including Ellen DeGeneres, who had Butler on her talk show and has asked her viewers to follow her lead and sign the petition.

“Ellen is wonderful, she is one of my roles models,” Butler says of the comedian. “I definitely couldn’t be doing what I’m doing right now without her.”

DeGeneres is not the only celebrity to push for the MPAA to change the rating. New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has Tweeted for his followers to sign the petition. A bipartisan group of 26 members of Congress has thrown its support behind the petition.

Younger celebrities, such as Justin Beiber and Demi Lovato, have also been pushing for people to sign the petition, Tweeting about it to their many followers.

“I think [Bieber and Lovato] especially are hitting the preteen, middle school age group because those are their fans,” Butler says. “If your role model is supporting something as important as bullying, then a lot of the time, these kids are going to look at it too.”

Butler will receive a special award, presented by Harvey Weinstein, whose production company is releasing the film, at GLAAD’s 23rd annual Media Awards in New York City on Saturday.

“The MPAA made a mistake in restricting this film to adult audiences. Everyone — young and old alike — needs to see this film and the devastating impact that bullying can have on today’s young people,” says GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick. “Katy has bravely used her voice to take a stand and has inspired countless Americans, including so many members of Congress and public figures, to show their support for the safety of all our children.”

All the advocacy toward changing “Bully’s” rating is just the beginning for this high school junior. Butler plans on studying political activism once she finishes high school. She would like to attend the University of Michigan or a school in the D.C., New York or Chicago areas.

“Bully” opens in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on March 30 and D.C. and other cities on April 13.

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Iran, Egypt play in World Cup ‘Pride Match’

FIFA allowed Pride flags inside Seattle stadium

Published

13 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Michael K. Lavers

(Screen capture via KOMO News/YouTube)

Iran and Egypt on Friday faced off during the World Cup’s “Pride Match” in Seattle.

Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death. Discrimination and persecution based on sexual orientation and gender identity is commonplace in Egypt.

Friday’s match coincided with Pride weekend in Seattle. The Egyptian Football Association and the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran both objected to playing in the “Pride Match.”

Egypt and Iran tied 1-1.

FIFA, for its part, allowed Pride flags inside the stadium during the match.

“The FIFA World Cup 2026 is an inclusive event that welcomes people from all backgrounds,” a FIFA spokesperson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Fans of all sexual orientations and gender identities are welcome at matches and events. General statements of human rights, including rainbow flags and other flags representing sexual orientation and gender identity, are permitted under the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Stadium Code of Conduct and may be displayed inside stadiums provided they are used in a manner consistent with the code.”

Human Rights Watch welcomed FIFA’s decision to allow Pride flags inside the stadium. Outright International, a global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, distributed Pride flags in Seattle on Friday, which was Pride Match Day.

“Visibility matters,” said Outright International Executive Director Maria Sjödin. “Pride is now being celebrated in more than 100 countries, including this weekend in Seattle. For many LGBTIQ people, seeing a Pride flag in public is a reminder that they are not alone, and that their rights and dignity are recognized.”

FIFA President Gianni Infantino earlier this year told Die Weltwoche, a Swiss magazine, that “there will be no ‘Pride Match’ at the (FIFA) World Cup.”

“There will be a FIFA World Cup match in Seattle, and on the same day, events organized by external organizations will be taking place in the city,” said Infantino. “But that has nothing to do with the match itself.”

Peter Tatchell, a long-time LGBTQ activist from the U.K. who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, was among those who traveled to Seattle for Friday’s match. Tatchell accused FIFA of not vetting World Cup teams — specifically Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Senegal, Qatar, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Uzbekistan, and Algeria — over whether they would allow gay players.

“FIFA is protecting LGBT+ visibility in the stands while failing to protect LGBT+ players on the pitch,” said Tatchell.

Photos

PHOTOS: Frederick Pride Parade

Published

16 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Michael Key

A scene from the 2026 Frederick Pride Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The second annual Frederick Pride Parade was held in the streets of downtown Frederick, Md. on Friday, June 26.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Theater

Carla Hall goes from ‘Top Chef’ to the stage

Solo show ‘Please Underestimate Me’ premieres at Olney

Published

19 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Patrick Folliard

Carla Hall stars in ‘Please Underestimate Me.’ (Photo by Marvin Joseph)

‘Please Underestimate Me’
Through July 12
Olney Theatre Center
at Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd.
Olney, Md.
$47-$101
Olneytheatre.org

Carla Hall gained celebrity status from Bravo TV’s “Top Chef.” She was funny and fun, and with her kooky signature catch phrase “Hooty hoo” and the southern-inspired recipes she lovingly cooked, Hall stood out in a kitchen crammed with contestants.

Now the D.C.-based Hall is taking revisiting her earliest love with the world premiere of her solo show “Please Underestimate Me,” currently running at Olney Theatre Center’s intimate and revamped Mulitz-Gudelsky Theatre Lab.

In the 90-minute piece (written by Hall, Lori Kaye, and Kaye’s partner Leslie Thomas; and directed by Lili-Anne Brown), Hall leads with food but quickly swerves into her personal and other aspects of her professional life. Built around an immersive fictional TV cooking show, her new play draws on experiences from her seven seasons (2011-2019) co-hosting cooking/chat show “The Chew”an ABC daytime proving ground, and her heady years on “Top Chef.” (2008, 2010).

Born and raised in Nashville, Hall wanted to attend Boston University to major in theater, but was rejected. Instead, she went to Howard University at her mother’s urging, where she ultimately majored in accounting. After graduating in 1986, she donned a bespoke business suit and briefly worked as a CPA for Price Waterhouse.

Business wasn’t for Hall. Tall and slender, she walked the runways in Paris for a while before ultimately finding her niche as a chef. Cooking seemed to come from her heart, something she learned from her grandmother who not incidentally bankrolled Hall’s way through culinary school.

Now she’s bringing the vibrancy and good humor that made her a “Top Chef” fan favorite and a popular TV host to the stage with “Please Underestimate Me.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: You seem a natural live performer. Were at all you nervous about doing this?

CARLA HALL: Anytime you step outside of what you’re known for you have to take a risk and make it happen. I’d been working on this the idea for seven years. I decided that I really wanted to do a variety show and really wanted to step back into my original love of theater.

I didn’t know what that looked like so I was asking a lot of people, actors and friends, about how to break into it. Can they see me as more than a chef? So, I told my agency to book me for voice overs, cameo roles. I got an acting coach and I was seeing a lot of single person shows. I literally embodied the thing that I wanted.

BLADE: Have you always been a vocal and public ally of the queer community?

HALL: For me, it’s natural. I came from the theater and dance world. I have a lot of gay and queer friends.

There’s something about people being gay and queer that goes with a need to be authentic to yourself. I think that’s why you find a lot of queer people in the arts. Dare to be you. Dare to be different, right? I like that.

BLADE: Long ago, I remember stopping by a Safeway in Wheaton to grab a sheet cake for a party. Your second or first episode of “Top Chef” had just aired. I wanted to yell “Hooty hoo” across the aisles, but was too shy.

CARLA HALL: My catering kitchen was near that Safeway.You should have yelled. I’d have given you a hug. I’ll hug almost anyone.

BLADE: Thanks. I think. You hear actors saying there’s nothing quite like TV fame because you’re invited into people’s living rooms. What were those days like when you started being recognized?

HALL: I like people. I tell Matthew [Matthew Lyons, Hall’s husband of 20 years], when fans say hello it’s my chance to get to learn about them. I owe them a lot; without them I wouldn’t be working.

BLADE: At Olney, Lauren M. Nichols’ surprise-filled set and Kelly Colburn’s projections of your personal snapshots from over the years are really wonderful.

HALL: It becomes really emotional. At the end of the show, I see 12-year-old me. I’m looking at that girl, and they did a put a little crown on my head, and I’m living her dream 50 years later.

BLADE: Is the pace hard?

HALL: Seven shows a week isn’t easy. I used to say “Top Chef” was my most grueling experience…well, that was before I did this.

BLADE: And is it gratifying?

HALL: At the end of the day, yes. Look, this play is filled with personal highs and lows and emotionally it’s exhausting. It’s also rewarding. Two weeks before the show started, I wasn’t sure I could do this.

BLADE: But of course, you are doing it. And you’re doing it so well.

HALL: A while back, I reached out to the executive producer of “The Chew” and thanked him for being the messenger of my lessons. Without those experiences I wouldn’t be here now doing “Please Underestimate Me.” My confidence has definitely grown. I’m a firm believer that everything that happens to you is for you.