'Bully' updates: MPAA to host special screening, while Congressman circulates letter asking MPAA to change film's R rating

Even though the MPAA has been at the center of a controversy for giving the Weinstein Company’s upcoming documentary Bully an R rating for “some language,” the organization will be sponsoring a screening and panel discussion for the film at its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Scheduled to attend the March 15 event are MPAA chairman Sen. Chris Dodd, the Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, Bully director Lee Hirsch, and a number of Washington, D.C.-area educators, parents, and students. Bully depicts the sudden rise of adolescent bullying in America, and will be released in theaters on March 30.

In related news, U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (D-California) is now circulating a letter in Congress asking the MPAA to reconsider Bully‘s R rating. “Creating impediments for millions of teenagers from seeing a movie that could change — and in some cases, save — their lives, seems unreasonable to us,” writes Honda. “The language in the film is a reflection of reality in our schools, on our buses, and online — something these kids experience every single day. It’s not sensationalized ‘adult content’ as your rating suggests and is oftentimes an active part of bullying itself.”

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