Davis issued his response:
While we would like to accept the apology provided by Peter Lenkov, it seems to us to be little more than a list of excuses for CBS’s actions and a couple reasons why we should either discontinue or feel guilty about making such actions known. The statement that the crew is 80 percent Hawaiian has nothing to do with the behavior displayed at the cemetery on December 9. Additionally, CBS purports to be a conservative network that honors veterans, yet this behavior stands in blatant contrast to Lenkov’s statements of patriotic sentiments. Telling veterans who want to revisit and honor fallen soldiers and sailors — their comrades — for the first and last time in 70 years to shush and get out of a shot is not at all in keeping with being ‘acutely aware of the deserved respect for [...] the reverence that should be afforded to all of our veterans, particularly those who served so nobly in Hawaii and at Pearl Harbor.’ At the risk of sounding cliché, actions speak louder than words. I would like to resolve this issue as much as everyone else, but an apology for giving offense is not an apology for offensive action. On behalf of the veterans who were at the Punchbowl, and the thousands of veterans that we represent, we must decline Lenkov’s ‘apology’ and request that he acknowledge that the course of events — from trampling underfoot the headstones of those fallen warriors interred at the Punchbowl, to telling our veterans to be quiet and move from the camera shot, to refusing them two minutes time to meet with the celebrities of the show — was disrespectful, and to apologize to each of the veterans for what happened, not how our veterans felt.
Source: EW
Hawaii Five-0 - Veterans demand another apology from CBS
15 Dec 2011
Hawaii 5-0
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Okay, you know what? They had a valid claim. And some of the apology was so-so, but apologize to every single veteran? Really?
ReplyDeleteYes they're sort of steadily eroding my sympathy for them now too. The thing that made me go 'wtf' was him complaining that they'd been refused a brief meeting with the stars. That's not a right! That's them suddenly being the pompous ones.
ReplyDeleteI still feel sympathetic for the veterans who were there that day and were undoubtedly upset by the whole thing, but more so now because they are not being represented respectably at all by their spokesperson.
Okay, this is getting out of hand. At this point, no apology from either CBS or Mr. Lenkov is going to appease Mr. Tubbs or the veterans who were at Punchbowl that day. It is clear that the whoever cleared both events at Punchbowl clearly shouldn't have done so and this unfortunately event happened. But Mr. Tubbs has now crossed the line by refusing to let this thing die. Nothing CBS or Mr. Lenkov says after this point will be enough for Mr. Tubbs, so there really is no point. Sad.
ReplyDeleteKnew this was coming. I said my peace yesterday....
ReplyDeleteI think his wording is off about "each and every veteran." (I hope). His overall point though seems to be that CBS is saying "Sorry your feelings were hurt," instead of apologizing for acting badly. The latter accepts responsibility, the former doesn't. He has a point. It's subtly shifting blame to the veterans for being upset, which isn't really an apology.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. I think the apology from the network was trite, entitled, and dismissive and made it sound like filming a scene where an imaginary character visits a grave should take precedence over the real sacrifices of the men buried there. I don't think the follow up request is out of hand. I think it's just calling CBS on their crap.
ReplyDeleteYes, those coordinating the "events" should have planned better. Still no excuse for the disrespectful behavior.