President Barack Obama will provide the intro for Cartoon
Net's original documentary, Speak Up,
which airs at 5:30 and 8 p.m. on March 18.
The commercial-free airing is meant to put a spotlight on
the issue of bullying. The president invited Cartoon COO Stuart Snyder to last
year's first White House Summit on Bullying – one of Cartoon's public service
efforts has been the Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative.
Elsewhere on the bullying front in Washington, 20
legislators have joined Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Brees and others in an the effort
to get the Motion Picture Association of America to change the rating from R to
PG-13 on the film, Bully.
Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and some of his colleagues sent a
letter to MPAA Sunday
asking for the rating change and saying the rating will exclude the very
audience it is meant to reach. MPAA has not changed the rating to date, but
plans a March 15 screening of the film in Washington for area principals and
educators, followed by a panel discussion that will include MPAA Chair Senator
Chris Dodd, distributor Harvey Weinstein and Bully director Lee Hirsch, among others.
