This is a little outdated, but I just found you guys, and the proper forum to post this on. The following is a letter I wrote and sent to numerous press & media soon after the movie's release. Please let me know what you think; I'd be interested in your opinions. This is one movie I won't be seeing!!! (I heard it sucked anyway.) Here's my letter....

Hepatitis C ... A JOKE in the "Bewitched" movie.

I find that far too many people are uneducated about the Hepatitis C Virus, which kills approximately 10,000 people a year in the United States alone and affects approximately 4 million people. In the recent "Bewitched" movie, Shirley Maclaine's character makes a young girl blurt out "I have Hepatitis C!". I have read, even on some Gay Pride/Gay Rights sites that this was one of the funniest moments in the movie. Quote: "The change resulted in at least one great payoff: one of the film’s funniest highlights is a scene where Iris, trying to stop Nigel from flirting with younger women, makes girls say extremely off-putting things to him like "I have Hepatitis C!" (Refer to LesbiaNation.com, PrideSource.com and others) I don't think they (or anyone else) would find it as funny if the character blurted out, "I have AIDS!"

I have Hepatitis C, and I don't find any humor in this at all. In fact, I find that it puts MORE stigma on those of us who suffer from this virus, and does nothing in promoting education or awareness of this silent killer. This virus has no cure, a treatment regiment that often has more side effects than the virus itself (I had to go off the treatment because of the side effects; although I was a 'responder', my body and psychological well being was at risk, and I had to stop for a number of reasons), and a social stigma that isn't helped by ignorant "jokes" such as this one.

Hepatitis C needs exposure and people need education and awareness ... not to mention sensitivity! How about it?

I can see your point, Joyceken. I think as a society, we should all be more sensitive to the plights of others. I can only imagine how I would feel if he had blurted out "I have _____." Where "blank" was something very near to me. It can be very painful.

However, I do feel that if you go see a movie, or to any other form of comedic entertainment--or even if you just overhear a conversation about one such event, you have to check your feelings at the door. We live in a society where nothing--and I mean NOTHING is off limits. I remember when Nicole Brown-Simpson was brutally murdered along with her boyfriend, and I turned on the TV very soon after, to hear Jay Leno making jokes about the latest Pez dispensder being the Nicole Brown-Simpson model--or some such crude, hurtful remark. Imagine how horrific and painful this must have been to her family. I'm not saying two wrongs make a right, but just that we have to choose our battles. I hope this is one that you can win.

I hear you, and you're so right ... sadly. But like I said ... if the joke had been aimed at AIDS (which, although very unjustly, is mostly and ignorantly still associated with primarily the gay community) or God forbid a joke about something like sicklecell which is associated with only the African-American community (although it's not a disease which can be passed on, but I think you get the point I'm trying to get across, for lack of a better example), there would have been OUTRAGE! But since Hepatitis C is stupidly considered and called the "junkie disease" and wrongly classified by many as a "sexually transmitted disease", it's easy foder for jokes because of the lack of awareness and education regarding this virus. I never abused drugs, was never sexually promiscuous, but the stigma attached to this virus and the "jokes" that reinforce that belief don't help in educating people about what it's really about. True, those are some factors as far as transmitting the virus, but they aren't the only ones, and sexual transmission is actually rare. AND ... Nora Ephron produced the film, and I always thought she was very much a supporter of such causes, as well as Shirley Maclaine, who was the one to participate in that segment of the script. I had more respect for them than that, and think they kinda sold out by taking a cheap shot for a laugh in a movie that stunk in the first place.

Peace & hope,
Joyce

Not to take from the sensitivity, but it reminds me of lines that we would use when in college to keep guys from hitting on us.

"I recently tested positive for gonnorhea," and other such things.

I think the audience simply reacted to similar situations not the Hepatitis C reference.

This is only my opinion and nothing more.

Cher