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The movie version of Ender’s Game doesn’t hit theaters until November, but a boycott of the film, due to book author Orson Scott Card‘s anti-gay views, is already in the works.
Gay organization Geeks Out wants people to skip the Summit film.
“Do not buy a ticket at the theater, do not purchase the DVD, do not watch it on-demand. Ignore all merchandise and toys. However much you may have admired his books, keep your money out of Orson Scott Card’s pockets,” the organization writes on its “Skip Ender’s Game” website.
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Arguing that supporting the movie will add to the fortune of Card, who has a long record of opposition to same-sex marriage and gay rights, the organization is urging fans to avoid the film, spread the word about Card’s views and support gay rights organizations.
“By pledging to Skip Ender’s Game, we can send a clear and serious message to Card and those that do business with his brand of anti-gay activism — whatever he’s selling, we’re not buying,” the organization adds. “The queer geek community will not subsidize his fear-mongering and religious bullying. We will not pay him to demean, insult, and oppress us.”
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Summit plans to show new footage from the highly anticipated sci-fi film at this year’s Comic-Con, and castmembers Harrison Ford, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin are set to attend the presentation.
Ender’s Game follows a young boy (Butterfield) who is selected to protect the human race from invaders.
Movie insiders have already begun distancing themselves from Card. “Orson’s politics are not reflective of the moviemakers,” one person involved with the film told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. “We’re adapting a work, not a person. The work will stand on its own.”
THR has reached out to Summit for comment on the planned boycott.
Card himself released a statement to Entertainment Weekly late Monday suggesting that the Supreme Court’s recent same-sex marriage decisions make his views moot.
“Ender’s Game is set more than a century in the future and has nothing to do with political issues that did not exist when the book was written in 1984,” Card wrote. “With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state. Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.”
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