Actor calls 13-year-old girls "whores" at Universal Hollywood, according to cell phone video

I'd still punch you in the balls if you called my wife a whore, regardless of the context.

So, I'm guessing you guys also disapprove of Dildo Clowns harassing you.

This one brought actual charges against the actor.

Jesus. Well, the police apparently thought they had a case to charge them, but I'm not sure breaking the law is the same argument as being an asshole.

Our culture is f'd up. For hundreds of years we've made excuses to make it OK to berate one group or another, and we never learn. I know you see it all as good fun, and maybe to you it is, but your view is not universally (giggle) shared.

I'm female, and my issue is more with kids being called whores rather than women. Would I prefer the word is not used when it really truly isn't necessary to use? Yeah, but it doesn't tweak my brain into a rage. And there was a good point raised about language to set mood and tone. If this particular scene is supposed to be something kind of like bitter old Jessica Lange a la American Horror Story, setting up some nasty, jealous, ominous dialogue with a character that calls female participants names and flirts with male participants makes sense. It sets a tone.

I'm not saying this is what happened. If this character was really just calling 13-year-old girls whores, I think it calls for discipline and possible firing. I find it hard to believe this is the case though, I really do. It doesn't even make any sense. I have a feeling the actor was indeed just playing a part, and these immature young people didn't understand it. Which is why they probably shouldn't have been there in the first place...

Jeff said:
I don't get this desire to make excuses for people being assholes.

I think some people here are disagreeing about whether it was being an a-hole rather than defending being one.

As to the statement that being called one is worse than simply hearing the word, I agree. But I think the status of the person saying it matters a lot. If some total stranger who knows nothing about me or anyone in my family says something, I am not going to give it much thought. Why be concerned about something said with no basis for it at all? Someone saying it with actual knowledge would be more concerning.

Though maybe that's just the result of being someone in an occupation with an incredibly low approval rating with lots of name calling. :)

Taste is subjective and personal.

Is the problem that things like this exist for people who harmlessly enjoy them with each other or is the problem that someone who doesn't like it waltzes into the fun and tries to break it up because they don't like it?

I do think that as the boundaries are continuing to be pushed, that these events have to convey what they're offering in better ways. Maybe some hard age restrictions are needed? Better descriptions? Clearer warnings?

There's no reason there can't be G rated haunts and PG rated haunts and PG-13 and R and even X rated material presented. The key is to present is as such and for the customer to know what they're buying into.

Jeff said:

... your view is not universally (giggle) shared.

With Gonch, is it ever?

I'm honestly on the fence about all of this. At first I imagined that some snotty teenage girls had teased one of the actors and he (before I knew it was actually another girl) retaliated by calling them whores in an unscripted, this is clearly not part of the act kind of way. But then I watched the video and saw that it wasn't like that at all. And as far as the entertainment aspect is concerned, she clearly elicited a strong reaction from the group of guys that she was talking to, as if there was some shock value to what she said. Was it crossing the line? Yeah, probably. If we replace whore with bitch, slut, the n-word, the f-word or the c-word, would we be seeing as many defenders? Probably not.

But here's what I really don't get: do we have to hire a lawyer for every damn thing that happens that we don't like? Seriously, what are they seeking here? Is it merely an apology? Is Ms. Alred taking this case pro bono? I don't disagree that they probably are owed an apology, but if they don't get it? Just move on with your life. If you are that offended then don't go to Universal anymore. Sometimes people don't apologize to you when you think you deserve it. No need to lawyer-up. As much as Jeff is tired of people being dicks, I'm tired of people that walk around perpetually "shocked and appalled," determined to be offended.

So, some of the consensus is too much is never enough? There is no line to be drawn? Just cross it in the name of entertainment?

LG, I understand the "humor", it's just not funny.

I think people get too hung up on the lawyer thing. Just because a lawyer is involved doesn't automatically discount the validity of a complaint. By extension, the incident doesn't mean that anyone was seeking out being offended or looking for a fight. Those are completely different issues.

Just because a lawyer is involved doesn't automatically discount the validity of a complaint.

I don't disagree, but what is the complaint in this case? Is it anything beyond someone using inappropriate language directed at 13-year-olds?

I just cannot imagine hiring an attorney because I was offended by something. My threshold for seeking legal counsel is much, much higher than that.

B'ster B said:

So, some of the consensus is too much is never enough? There is no line to be drawn? Just cross it in the name of entertainment?

Maybe, Maybe, and Maybe.

Not sure why we're trying to draw such a hard line here. It's situational.

It's why different forms of entertainment exist. Just because you don't like it, doesn't make it wrong. It just makes it not your cup of tea.

LG, I understand the "humor", it's just not funny.

Given your views in the thread to this point, I'll take that as a compliment.

---

Travis mentioned those torture houses that have popped up everywhere earlier in the thread.

Why is no one up in arms about those? They do WAY worse things than call you names.

But people know what they're getting into ahead of time. I still think the issue is that the girls weren't prepared for what HHN offered. That's not HHN's fault. I feel like they convey the nature of the event to a reasonable degree.

If the simple act of calling someone a whore in and of itself is what's wrong here, then things like the event below should be outrightly banned...and that doesn't make sense. It's contextual. People want to go experience this. If it's not for you, you can't go and then complain that it's offensive to your sensibilities.

Pretty sure that Universal doesn't give you a safe word to avoid having your 13-year-old sexual identity verbally assaulted. So, next comparison...

Sigh. That doesn't even make sense and you know it.

The point is that there are all levels of entertainment. We don't don't put the burden on the entertainers to create something acceptable to all, we put it on the consumer to seek out what is right for them.

...having your 13-year-old sexual identity verbally assaulted...

Holy. Crap.

I think we may have watched different videos.

No, it doesn't make sense to you, because it's your belief that it's just harmless entertainment and everyone should expect what you deem is appropriate. As much as you enjoy being right about everything in the industry, not everything, as it turns out, that's good for the Gonch is good for everyone else.

This is why we have absurd and ineffective "viral" videos right now with little girls dropping F-bombs to make a point about how women should be treated. One side paints anything with a dick as a threat to womanhood, while the other laughs off stuff like this as entertainment. The reality is somewhere in the middle, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. You can't tell me with a straight face that if they replace "whore" with "nigger" and it was a black kid that anyone would be OK with it. You don't see them as the same, that's fine, but there is obviously a segment of the population that has the expectation that it's not funny or entertainment.

You keep coming back to expectations, and NBCUniversal has said in their statement that what happened doesn't align with what they're all about. They admitted wrong doing. The expectations of the kids and their parents was not met, and the park validated that.

Vater said:

"I was called a whore at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights, and all I got was 10 seconds on a local news cast"

Fixed it for ya

And why was the reporter downtown in front of sidewalk construction?

I'm often amused by the fondness of local news to have reporters "LIVE!!!!" in places that don't actually have anything to do with the story.

I still have to draw lines....

If I choose to pony up 55 bucks to go to Statesville Haunted Prison, I'm going in knowing what to expect. If I don't, well, a fool and his money....

Someone going to a park has a reasonable expectation that they will not have any kind of slur said to or about them. Statesville presents itself as an experience different from Fright Fest at Great America.

If these girls weren't prepared for what HHN offers, well, yeah, they shouldn't have been there, and that's on the parents. But I'm still not clear on whether they were inside the park when this happened. And in either case, I think a park -- a more generic experience than a Statesville Haunted Prison, something that only exists during the Halloween season -- has to be more cautious.

Jeff said:

You keep coming back to expectations, and NBCUniversal has said in their statement that what happened doesn't align with what they're all about. They admitted wrong doing. The expectations of the kids and their parents was not met, and the park validated that.

Surely, you understand the PR implications of such a thing. They sort of have to.

I would have too under the same circumstances.

As much as you enjoy being right about everything in the industry, not everything, as it turns out, that's good for the Gonch is good for everyone else.

And there's a segment of the population that's totally ok with it.

The question is, which kind of experience were the girls attending?

In this case it was one that was described as exposing attendees to extremely adult material.

It's not inherently wrong to call someone a whore. It just isn't. It's a matter of personal sensibility.

It's even less wrong when it's in fun. It's even less less wrong when it's a in fun at an event described as 'extremely adult material."

That, to me, is the issue here and the deciding factor. If they're at Disney's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween thing, then yes, I'm right there with you.

If they're at something like that McKamey Manor thing I posted, then no, you can't honestly be offended that you're being called a whore.

I think HHN qualifies their experience correctly in warning that 'extremely adult material' is what they offer. I think characters making off the cuff remarks in public setting, pointing out guests and provoking with a little adult playful name calling falls under the umbrella of what they warn you that you'll encounter.

It's not about me at all. It's about expectations. It's about knowing what you're getting into. It's about knowing what's appropriate for you and your family.

I'm as cool as they come and I wouldn't send my 13 year old to something that warned it would expose them to 'extremely adult material' in a million years. I'm willing to take that responsibility. I understand that different people are looking for different forms of entertainment. It's the same reason I would never suggest porn is wrong, but then again, I'm not exactly serving up to my tween kids and then complaining about it.

If I'm over here swearing it up with my whore friends, you can't come to the party and then lawyer up because it wasn't the kind of party you liked...especially if I warned you ahead of time.

There's also a whole other side to this argument that no one has really touched on yet ... And this is just playing devil's advocate, of course ...

Remember in the movie *Roadhouse* when Dalton was telling his staff what he expected and how he wanted them to handle certain situations by being "nice" ... And the one bouncer responded by asking him, "yeah, well what if someone calls my momma a whore??"

His answer .... "IS SHE?"

Roadhouse is one of the greatest movies ever made.