The website for a campaign to boycott CBS’ upcoming miniseries “The Reagans” is back online after it crashed due to an overwhelming response from people angry about the network’s reported portrayal of the former president and his wife.
A former chief of staff to a U.S. congressman, Mike Paranzino, has teamed with colleagues to set up the website, which urges people not to watch the two-part series and to boycott its advertisers for 30 days during the peak of the holiday shopping season.
Paranzino told WorldNetDaily his original server could not handle the massive volume generated by the campaign.
The miniseries, set for airing Nov. 16 and 18, includes scenes of Reagan cursing at his staff and his wife slapping her daughter, according to script excerpts published by the DrudgeReport.
Other scenes show the former president declaring he is the anti-Christ and, in response to AIDS, stating, “They that live in sin shall die in sin” – though there is no record of him saying such things.
Paranzino said sponsors of the program still have not been announced and might remain unknown or undetermined until the program airs.
Other websites have urged a broader boycott that includes advertisers of other CBS programs.
The miniseries will be broadcast during “sweeps week” when grabbing high ratings allows networks to charge higher rates for advertising.
CBS apparently has been paying attention to the clamor over its program. President and CEO Les Moonves said this week the network is adjusting the script to present a more balanced view.
In a CNBC interview Wednesday, Moonves said criticism of a film nobody has seen is “rather odd,” but added he and his staff have looked at the rough cut and “there are things we think go too far.”
“So there are some edits being made trying to present a more fair picture of the Reagans,” he told interviewer Tina Brown.
Meanwhile, The Republican National Committee asked CBS yesterday to allow a team of historians and friends of the Reagans to review the series before it airs.
RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie said if CBS rejects the request, he will ask the network to run a feeder across the bottom of the screen every 10 minutes warning viewers the program is not accurate.
CBS has not responded to the request.
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Wayne Allyn Root