Dwarfism Advocacy Group Files FCC Complaint Against 'Celebrity Apprentice'

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Little People of America, Inc. (LPA), a national nonprofit dwarfism support organization, has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," Donald Trump's reality program, over the April 5, 2009, episode's repeated use of the word "midget," which the LPA considers offensive.

The LPA likens "midget" to a racial slur and wants a proscription of the term on broadcast television. According to the FCC Form 475B (Obscene, Profane, and/or Indecent Material Complaint Form) submitted by the LPA, the episode at issue ridiculed little people not only by uttering the word "midget" numerous times, but also by cast members producing a viral video detergent ad entitled "Jesse James and the Midgets." Former NFL running back Hershel Walker, comic Joan Rivers, and country star Clint Black, not exactly a triumverate of national arbiters of good taste, discuss during the segment having little people bathe themselves in a bathtub full of detergent and then hanging them out to dry.

No comment as yet from Trump, NBC, or the FCC in response to the LPA complaint. The LPA (http://www.lpaonline.org) was co-founded in 1957 by actor Billy Barty, and claims to have more than 6,000 members worldwide.