(Adds comment from NBC)
LOS ANGELES Aug 13 (Reuters) – Nine Nobel Peace laureates,
including retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, o n
Mo nday called on television network NBC to cancel its “Stars
Earn Stripes” reality show, calling it a bid to “sanitize war by
likening it to an athletic competition.”
The competition show, due to air for the first time on
M onday evening, puts eight celebrities such as singer Nick
Lachey and politician Sarah Palin’s husband Todd, through
military-style training, including helicopter drops and
long-range weapons firing.
The celebrities are paired with former members of the U.S.
Marines, Green Berets and other forces to compete for a cash
prize that would go to a charity of their choice. Producers say
the show, hosted by retired U.S. General Wesley Clark, will “pay
homage to the men and women who serve in the U.S. armed forces.”
In an open letter to NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob
Greenblatt, the Nobel Prize winners said that “preparing for war
is neither amusing nor entertaining.”
“It is our belief that this program pays homage to no one
anywhere and continues and expands on an inglorious tradition of
glorifying war and armed violence.
“Real war is down in the dirt deadly. People – military and
civilians – die in ways that are anything but entertaining,” the
letter said.
The Nobel-winning signatories called on NBC to “stop airing
this program.”
NBC rejected the assertion that “Stars Earn Stripes”
glorifies war. “‘Stars Earn Stripes’ is about thanking the young
Americans who are in harm’s way every day. This show is not a
glorification of war but a glorification of service,” the
network said in a statement.
Tutu, 80, won his Nobel in 1984 for efforts to end apartheid
in South Africa. He was joined in the letter by American
anti-landmines campaigner Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire and
Betty Williams of Northern Ireland, former East Timor President
Jose Manuel Ramos-Horta, Argentine artist Adolfo Perez Esquivel,
Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala and Iranian lawyer Dr. Shirin
Ebadi.
In addition to Palin and Lachey, the show’s contestants
include actors Dean Cain and Terry Crews, wrestler Eve Torres,
television fitness trainer Dolvett Quince, former Olympic skier
Picabo Street and boxer Laila Ali, daughter of former champion
Muhammad Ali.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte, Dan
Grebler and Bill Trott)
