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“Kindergarten Cop,” a timeless comedy that tells the story of a gigantic, temperamental police detective played by Arnold Schwarzenegger working undercover as a kindergarten teacher to catch a drug dealer, has been canceled. Literally.
The Northwest Film Center, a “regional media arts resource and service organization” located in Portland (where else?) has canceled an Aug. 6th outdoor screening of the 1990 classic film because of complaints from an affluent white female liberal (AWFL).
In a Twitter rant posted this past Saturday, author and media contributor Lois Leveen, a white woman, complained that the movie celebrates “over-policing,” and that this hurts black and so-called “Latinx” communities.
She’s since made her account private, though screenshots of some of her tweets remain:
This person singlehandedly (it seems) convinced @nwfilmcenter to cancel #kindergartencop for a DUMB reason. Still wondering if @LoisLeveen has actually watched it, but also grateful to her for giving us all a great Tuesday night movie suggestion!👏 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/fYhOJVFdTL
— CVDalcher – I made a book called VOX. (@CVDalcher) August 5, 2020
“National reckoning on over-policing is a weird time to revive Kindergarten Cop. IRL, we are trying to end the school-to-prison pipeline,” she tweeted.
“There’s nothing entertaining about the presence of police in schools, which feeds the ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline in which African American, Latinx and other kids of color are criminalized rather than educated. Five- and 6-year-olds are handcuffed and hauled off to jail routinely in this country. And this criminalizing of children increases dramatically when cops are assigned to work in schools.”
Leveen, whose work has reportedly appeared at The Atlantic and The New York Times (of course), even went so far as to suggest “Kindergarten Cop” “feeds racist assumptions” just like “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone with the Wind.”
In response to this single white woman’s request, NW Film Center caved by cancelling its showing of “Kindergarten Cop” and replacing it with a second showing of of the documentary, “John Lewis: Good Trouble.”
Look:
NE Film Center decided to show Kindergarten Cop, a classic filmed in Oregon for its 30th anniversary. @LoisLeveen compared it to Gone with the Wind and went on a rant, this attributing to its cancellation, THEN complained because they didn’t apologize right. WTF is happening here pic.twitter.com/z7afKlyxnU
— Silicon Hawk (@silicon_hawk) August 5, 2020
The additional showing on August 6 replaces Kindergarten Cop, which had been chosen for its importance in Oregon filmmaking history.
— NW Film Center (@nwfilmcenter) August 3, 2020
But even this wasn’t good enough for Leveen.
“I have been a Silver Screen members for years, and an NWFC patron even longer, and I know how seldom their screenings attract substantial numbers of BIPOC audience members,” she said in a statement to Willamette Week.
“When a white-dominant institution cannot honestly admit their error and insensitivity, it does not suggest they will avoid similar errors and insensitivities in the future.”
Much like “Latinx,” the term “BIPOC” is a fake word used primarily by white liberals to classify non-white people.
“I think what you meant to type was, ‘Yes, we made a grave error in not realizing the implicit racism in that programming decision. We apologize and are rethinking who makes our programming decisions hereafter.’ How deep a white normativity hole will @nwfilmcenter keep digging?” she reportedly added in a tweet.
As of Wednesday, her account had been made private, likely because of the overwhelming criticism and backlash she’s faced from the public.
See just a tiny sampling of it below (*Language warning):
This is truly the most ridiculous take. You lessen the moment by conflating this nonsense with actual issues. I was a poor POC in public schools and it wasn’t Kindergarten Cop that was holding folks back. How dare you assume we’re as sensitive as you get to be now.
— Attica Finch (@Attica_Finch) August 4, 2020
But hey, thanks for canceling a good show that my MINORITY family finds non offensive
— jeff (@jsick723) August 5, 2020
Lois, you seem like one of the many angry at the world liberals that think everything in life is racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, etc, etc. Must suck to be living a life so angry at everything. Isn’t it true you’re really just angry at yourself?
— Aletheia Veritas (@TheTruthDomain) August 5, 2020
Shame and sad. I am a minority and actually like KC, esp. when Arnie confronted the abusive father. Cute kids in there.
— YokaiDad (@DadYokai) August 5, 2020
Please don’t ever refer to me as Latinx. I find it highly offensive and colossally stupid. Also, I love Kindergarten Cop.
— Edgar Macias Acosta (@edgarmacosta) August 5, 2020
Here’s a tip for you. Most “Latins” abhor the whole Latinx bullshit tag people like you try to push…
— Donny Mart (@MartDonny) August 5, 2020
Thank you thought police for protecting us from the harmful accent of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ha ha! You’re ruining everything and you are acting like children. I’ve never heard something more ridiculous as calling the movie Kindergarten Cop a dangerous film. You are ridiculous!
— Rob (@Gameday9999) August 5, 2020
Hey Karen clearly you never watched the movie pic.twitter.com/tEg1MQJyhs
— Yitzak Ben Aaron (@yitzak_ben) August 5, 2020
A couple of high-profile figures, including Sen. Ted Cruz, took note of the controversy as well.
“Nutty. Angry leftists hate Hollywood. Anyone who disagrees will be censored. Hollywood, afraid of the mob, will keep funding those trying to erase any speech/movies that don’t conform,” he tweeted.
Nutty. Angry leftists hate Hollywood. Anyone who disagrees will be censored.
Hollywood, afraid of the mob, will keep funding those trying to erase any speech/movies that don’t conform. https://t.co/aZUKKaBywZ
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 5, 2020
Hollywood tends to be far-left, despite far-left activists like Leveen being responsible for its gradual but unmistakable decline.
In case you’ve never seen “Kindergarten Cop,” watch a trailer below:
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