How Haitian groups got Aids reference REMOVED from a Hollywood film

[get these nets]

This is an old story but it's worth revisiting.

OK, so about 20 years ago, How Stella Got Her Groove Back came out in theaters. About a middle aged professional woman goes on vacation to Jamaica and meets a young local man.

My younger cousin took his girl to go see it opening, and calls me the next day in shock. He tells me that he's in the theater and the main character and her sister have the convo

sister "Watch out for those people, they have Aids, remember?
lead character "no, that's Haiti.....miss manners"


Haitians criticize `Stella' over reference to AIDS
By Associated Press Aug 31, 1998, 12:00am MDT



Haitians are criticizing the movie romance "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" and demanding an apology, saying the film revives the outdated fear that they carry AIDS.

In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration removed Haitians from its official list of high-risk AIDS carriers in 1991.In the movie, 40-year-old divorcee Stella, played by Angela Bassett, travels to Jamaica and has an affair with a man half her age. When her sisters question her about it afterward, one asks if he used a condom "because those people have a history of AIDS."

The other sister interjects: "No, that's Haiti, Miss Manners."

To many Haitian-Americans, that's a painful flashback to the time when the federal government branded them as AIDS carriers and barred them from donating blood.

"Those words have lessened the experience of this movie for me," said Miami-area lawyer Regine Monestime, 27. "They put a cloud of negativity on Haitians and it reconfirms ignorant peoples' myths about Haiti and Haitians."

Haiti was one of the first countries that scientists associated with the virus. In the early 1980s, scientists speculated that New York homosexuals were bringing the virus home with them after vacationing in Haiti.

"It is really an unfortunate thing that this comment brings us back to where we were years ago," said Jocelyn McCalla, executive director of the New-York based National Coalition for Haitian Rights, who took part in the protests of the government ban on Haitian blood donations.

Last week, Haitian-Americans from different backgrounds - college students, lawyers and teachers - gathered in North Miami to call for a national apology from 20th Century Fox, which released the film.

They also agreed to start a petition drive, asking the film studio to remove the scene from releases of the film on video and in foreign markets.
the content of the petition drive letter is in spolier

Spoiler

Posted: September 2, 1998
Address your letters protesting How Stella Got Her Groove Back to the following:
Rupert Murdoch
Chairman of the News Corporation Twentieth Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox 10201 W. Pico Blvd.
10201 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90035

David Devoe, CEO
Chairman of the News Corporation Twentieth Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox 10201 W. Pico Blvd.
10201 W. Pico Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90035

William Mechanic, CEO
Fox Filmed Entertainment
P.O. BOX 900
Beverly Hills CA 90213
Fax: 310-369-3846

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terry McMillan, Executive Producer
Aaron Priest Agency
708 Third Avenue, 23rd Floor
New York NY 10017
Fax: 212-573-9417

Kevin Sullivan, Director
1007 Montana Avenue, Room 344
Santa Monica CA 90403
Fax: 310-458-6013

Angela Bassett
ICM
8942 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills CA 90211
Fax: 310-550-4100

Taye Diggs
Wolf-Kasteler
132 S. Rodeo DR., Suite 300
Beverly Hills CA 90212
Fax: 310-205-0879

Whoopi Goldberg
Bragman Nyman Cafarelli Agency
9171 Wishire Blvd., Suite 300
Beverly Hills CA 90210
Fax: 310-284-7838

Jennifer Ogden, Executive Producer
Mirisch Agency
10100 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 700
Los Angeles CA 90067
Fax: 310-282-0702

Regina King
13701 Riverside Dr., Suite 500
Sherman Oaks CA 91423
Fax: 818-981-5260

Email: www.fox.com
www.howstella.com

Use the following as guidelines for your letter protesting How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

SAMPLE LETTER 1

I,______(name)____________, demand that Twentieth Century Fox immediately remove the reference connecting Haiti to the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) from the current release of How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Edited versions of the film should be immediately provided to theaters so that the misinformation is no longer being propagated. In addition, any subsequent video and international releases should be free of the reference to Haiti.

The line in the film which alludes to Haitians having a monopoly on AIDS is offensive, and misleading. AIDS is not a disease inherent to one group of people! Scientific advances have showed this to be incorrect. Years ago, Haitians thought they had laid to rest the notion that AIDS and Haiti were synonymous. They petitioned the Federal Drug Administration and the Center for Disease Control to have their name removed from the list of high-risk groups.

They held several demonstrations in the 1980s. In 1990 they held the largest demonstration in New York City since the heydays of the Civil Rights movement, when more than 70,000 people paralyzed New York City rush hour traffic for several hours. America took notice, since then, Haitians as an ethnic group in the United States have not been blamed for the existence of AIDS nor its spreading. How Stella Got Her Groove Back does that. It revives a discredited notion.

The gratuitous reference inevitably popularizes a bias against people of Haitian origin and Haiti in particular. The danger is that the gross misinformation will be popularized in several languages and will not be limited to the US audience. It will find its way onto videos that will be stored in a home entertainment cabinet and viewed by generations to come, and kids of all ages, who may grow up with the idea that Haitians and Haiti are responsible for this so far incurable disease called AIDS. I will not accept decade later to have such a remark made in this medium or any other.

Sincerely,

Sign your name

Print your name

The movie is based on the best-selling novel by Terry McMillan, who co-wrote the screenplay. Neither McMillan nor Fox would comment. The Haitian reference did not appear in the novel.

Wyclef's comments at the time

Spoiler

===========================================

VMAs
Wyclef Jean Explains His Anti-"Stella" VMA Rant




MTV News Staff 09/15/1998
Fugee and Refugee All-Star Wyclef Jean was both a performer and winner at last week's Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, and Jean used his time at the podium not only to collect his Moonman, but also to share his social views on a matter very dear to him.

Jean collaborated with Stevie Wonder on an update of Wonder's song, "Mastsblasta," which in turn was contributed to the soundtrack for "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."

But when the Haitian-born Jean had a chance to finally see "Stella," he was offended by one scene in particular, and addressed his grievance with the movie during the VMAs -- a stance he further explained afterwards during a backstage interview.

"Everyone who has seen it [knows what I mean]," Wyclef told the MTV Radio Network, "and [why] I mentioned 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' ... In the movie they made a joke about Haitian people having AIDS. I was real offended about that."


"I don't think that AIDS is something that anyone should play with or comment on sarcastically," he added, "It's something very serious, we've got people working hard on it to cure, so we need to stop putting these stereotypes into movies, you know what I mean? So people will respect us."

Wyclef Jean will bring his Refugee All-Stars to the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC for a concert on September 28.

Catch all the sizzlin', star-packed VMA action direct from Miami on August 28. MTV News' preshow kicks things off at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, followed by big show at 8 p.m.

Vote for the Viewer's Choice Award, see a timeline of MTV Video Music Awards history, and relive highlights of last year's event. And for more MTV Video Music Awards news, check out the MTV News VMA archive.

========================================================
THE RESULT


Immigrant Organization Evolves Into Coalition For Haitian Rights
By
Marjorie ValbrunStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Updated Feb. 4, 1999

In last summer's hit movie "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," one character made a remark likening Haiti to a country of AIDS carriers. The National Coalition for Haitian Rights was quick to object.

The New York-based advocacy group wrote to, among others, the head of Universal Pictures. It supported protest rallies at theaters around the country and enlisted the help of rap star Wycleff Jean, a Haitian-American whose music was included in the movie. As a result, Mr. Jean threatened to have his music pulled off the soundtrack.

The remark "was not admissible in a film that celebrated African-Americans" and "at the same time was denigrating and stereotyping Haitians as AIDS carriers," says Jocelyn McCalla, the coalition's executive director. "It was a slap in the face to Haitians," he says. In the end, Universal issued a formal apology and agreed to remove the remark from the video version of the film that was released last month.

 

[get these nets]

@Dip, @intruder v6.1 @ZoeGod @Soundbwoy @Samson @Mtt @LeVraiPapi @HaitianPattyFromNYC @mson @MidniteJay @kej718 @Fatboi1 @Mega

 

[MidniteJay]

I didn't know that about the movie.

 

[ba'al]

Samething happened if ya'll nikkas who grew up playing video games remember on Vice City. It was a mission were you had to kill Haitians.
Sun Sentinel - We are currently unavailable in your region

he manufacturers of a video game that has sparked protests for telling its players at one point to "kill the Haitians" and "kill the Cubans" apologized to Haitian leaders on Tuesday.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. and Rockstar Games, Inc. also promised to delete some objectionable statements from future copies of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The company did not apologize to the Cuban community, which also has complained, or say whether it would delete the anti-Cuban phrase.

In recent weeks, Vice City -- which takes place in a fictionalized crime infested Miami of the 1980s -- has sparked threats of lawsuits from the Haitian government and protests among political leaders in New York. In South Florida, Cuban and Haitian community leaders and politicians have hammered the game and asked federal officials to ban it.

Haitian activists in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties are planning protests in front of retailers to slow upcoming Christmas sales of the game.

 

[get these nets]

 

[Samson]

I did not know about that, nor have I watched the movie. Good for the apology, but fukk them for putting it in the first place.

 

[thekingsmen]

Good info since the rumor mill was turning on this when it was released.

 

[Thegospel]

Coli told me only a certain group could make power moves like this

 

[Apollo Creed]

 

[ComorianKid]

Great, now Tariq’s bytch ass needs to be touched :Piccyoumad:

 

[get these nets]

I didn't know that about the movie.

I did not know about that, nor have I watched the movie. Good for the apology, but fukk them for putting it in the first place.

If you speak to any 40+ relative who was in the country at the time, they will remember this story. Articles don't mention it, but I think that the studio recalled and changed the prints of the film that were being shown in theaters after the protests started.

I remember that the organizations went right after the studio people at the top who make the decisions about content.There were barbershop ,church, etc discussions about "how could the Black people involved in the project see that in the script and not say anything" but ultimately it wasn't their fight (or concern) It was ours.
Though in years since then, when I see people who were in that project make comments about racism in Hollywood, I laugh.

 

[intruder]

Mofos be like - "yeah AIDS is man-made. The white man made it to kill us"

Same mofos - "well you know them Haitians got that AIDS..."

Like we got all then high tech labs pumping out viruses in Haiti exporting it to the world. They wanna shyt haitians to make them feel better about themselves but at the same time want to hang on to their conspiracy theories

 

[get these nets]

Mofos be like - "yeah said it's man-made. The white man me it to kill us"

Same mofos - "well you know them Haitians got that AIDS..."

Like we got all then high tech labs pumping out viruses in Haiti exporting it to the world. They wanna shyt haitians to make them feel better about themselves but at the same time want to hang on to their conspiracy theories

Luckily, as the story illustrates, later groups of Haitians learned from the mistakes of the past. The importance of using the media to challenge & correct false narratives.

Haitian govt. should have sent a doctor to the Western countries and appear in tv,print to do interviews about what the ACTUAL facts were about Haiti, HIV, and AIDS. And to answer questions.

By not doing that, they allowed the news meda to run wild with stories whether they were accurate or not.

If you note.....in the sample protest letter that was sent out by the advocacy group, they mentioned that they wanted the line removed from American AND International versions of the film.

The gratuitous reference inevitably popularizes a bias against people of Haitian origin and Haiti in particular. The danger is that the gross misinformation will be popularized in several languages and will not be limited to the US audience.


They knew the damage that was done by earlier propaganda....and the failure to publicly counter/correct it.
My father taught me that it's not about what happens to you, it's about what you do about it.

 

[mson]

Mofos be like - "yeah said it's man-made. The white man me it to kill us"

Same mofos - "well you know them Haitians got that AIDS..."

Like we got all then high tech labs pumping out viruses in Haiti exporting it to the world. They wanna shyt haitians to make them feel better about themselves but at the same time want to hang on to their conspiracy theories

This is old fam. Don't get your pressure up.

 

[Originalman]

@Get These Nets and @ba'al...I remember both those situations (stella article and GTA article).