Newtown Parent Slams ‘Glee’ School Shooting Episode [Video]
This week’s episode of Glee is generating a deluge of controversy and criticism over its touchy subject matter: School shootings. The episode, titled “Shooting Star” has been damned by many, including some Newtown parents.
On CNN this morning, one Newtown father slammed Fox‘s decision to air the episode without at least notifying the community first. We reported earlier this morning that Newtown families were first notified by school superintendent Janet Robinson of the episode’s subject matter, mere hours before it aired on Thursday.
“I want to make you aware that the show Glee is featuring what could be a disturbing plot tonight and I want you to be aware so you can make an informed choice about watching this,” Robinson’s letter read, in part.
“Shooting Star” is primarily a “bottle episode,” where the principal cast huddles together under the threat of a shooting at the fictional William McKinley High School, contemplating what it would be like to die and potentially never see their families again.
Critics have called the episode “insensitive,” and though conceding that Glee often deals with relevant and controversial issues, many opined that a school shooting episode came just a little too soon.
Glee‘s school shooting episode aired roughly four months after the horrific tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, when 20 children and six adults lost their lives to gunman Adam Lanza.
Speaking to CNN‘s Carol Costello, Newtown resident Andrew Paley said that many parents in Newtown are upset with the network for not notifying them about the episode’s content prior to its airing.
Though he conceded that Fox aired a warning before the program, he said that it wasn’t enough to justify the episode’s content, especially while Newtown’s wounds are still so raw.
Paley said, “I think it’s terrible that the writers and producers of that show didn’t think to contact someone in Newtown to let us know this was coming.”
Watch the video below, via Mediaite. What do you think? Did Glee‘s school shooting episode cross the line?
[Image via: Keith McDuffee, Wikimedia Commons]
