Dad to sue Simpsons
2005-11-26 20:14
Moscow - A Russian lawyer who says the US animated television satire The Simpsons has caused moral harm to his son plans to petition the European court of human rights after a Russian court rejected his case for the show to be removed from prime-time viewing slots.
The lawyer, Igor Smykov, charged that the popular programme, syndicated in many countries around the world, spread "propaganda of violence, cruelty, drugs and homosexuality", but a spokesperson for the Moscow court that heard his case confirmed it was rejected.
Smykov, quoted by the RIA-Novosti news agency, said he would take his case to the European court of human rights in Strasbourg.
"I think I will be understood there," the agency quoted him as saying.
Bid to ban The Simpsons
In addition to demanding that broadcast of the show on Russian television be confined to late viewing slots less likely to be seen by children, Smykov also sought 300 000 rubles (about $10 000) in compensation for moral damage to his family, particularly his nine-year-old son.
Last March, lawmakers from the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party tried but failed to have the culture ministry ban broadcast of The Simpsons on Russian television.
According to the TNS Gallup Media ratings firm, more than half of the viewers who watch The Simpsons in Russia are between the ages of four and 18.
The comical series, a pop culture phenomenon in the West, portrays aspects of American social life through the daily travails of the Simpson family led by Homer, the overweight and lazy father, his hard-working wife Marge and their three children: troublemaker Bart, over-talented Lisa and baby Maggie.
- AFP