MPAA gives ‘Bully’ PG-13 rating after edits

{mosads}Nearly 500,000 people signed an online petition urging former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), now the head of the MPAA, to reverse his organization’s decision.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked her Twitter followers to sign the petition, and Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) gathered signatures from 35 members of Congress for a letter asking Dodd to change his mind. 

The MPAA denied Weinstein’s appeal of the rating on Feb. 23, but decided to re-rate the film after the studio edited out three uses of the F-word. 

“In the case of Bully, the ratings system has worked exactly as it is supposed to: parents have been kept informed of the content of each version of the film, and they have been given the information they need to make movie-going decisions on behalf of their kids,” Joan Graves, chairman of the MPAA’s Classification and Ratings Administration, said in a statement.

The MPAA also waved its requirement that a film has to wait 90 days before being re-released with a new rating.

The filmmakers emphasized that the edits do not affect a crucial scene where a student is harassed on a bus.

“I feel completely vindicated with this resolution,” Director Lee Hirsch said in a statement. “While I retain my belief that PG-13 has always been the appropriate rating for this film, as reinforced by Canada’s rating of a PG, we have today scored a victory from the MPAA.” 

Weinstein called Dodd a “hero” for supporting the cause and said the MPAA “showed great courage by not cutting the scene everyone has been fighting to keep.”

The Weinstein Co. said in a statement that building support for the Safe Schools Improvement Act is “the next step in this movement for change.”

The studio said it has scheduled a meeting with Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to discuss the bill.

“If we can’t get the Safe Schools Improvement Act passed, we’ll be visiting the home states of each lawmaker until it does,” said Katy Butler, the 17 year-old Michigan high school student who started the petition on Change.org to lower the film’s rating.

Rep. Honda, who gathered signatures to support the rating change, called the MPAA’s move “unprecedented.”

“The debate over the documentary’s rating has re-invigorated a crucial conversation amongst teachers and students, parents and administrators, advocates and thought leaders,” Honda said in a statement. “Now, it’s up to all of us to take the conversation to a new level, to stand together to craft solutions that stop bullying in communities everywhere – both online and offline.”

The lawmaker announced he will start an anti-bullying caucus to address the issue.

–Updated at 1:02 p.m.