UPDATED: Disability Advocates Call For ‘Tropic Thunder’ Protest, Stiller Responds

There may be picket signs on the red carpet tonight as disability advocates gather for a protest at the Westwood premiere of “Tropic Thunder.”

The planned meeting will be “the start of a nationwide protest,” Peter Wheeler, spokesman for the Special Olympics, told Reuters.

The Special Olympics and 21 other disability groups are up in arms over the Ben Stiller-directed DreamWorks film, which is slated to open on Wednesday. The groups are calling for a nationwide boycott of “Thunder” over what they consider a “negative portrayal” of the developmentally disabled.

“We are asking people not to go to the movie and hope to bring a consciousness to people about using derogatory words about this population,” Wheeler said.

The satiric film-within-a-film follows the cast of an action movie who are thrown into a real-life war zone. Much of the controversy stems from a subplot involving Stiller’s character, Tugg Speedman, who stars in a bid for acting legitimacy called “Simple Jack” prior to filming “Tropic Thunder.” As developmentally disabled farmhand Simple Jack, Stiller dons buckteeth and speaks with a stutter.

Viral promotion materials for the film – which have since been removed – portrayed him in a mock poster for the film with the tagline, “Once upon a time… There was a retard.” The offending word is also used frequently in a particular exchange between Stiller and co-star Robert Downey Jr., who himself is playing an edgy part — a blond-haired, blue-eyed Method actor who undergoes a skin treatment to play a black soldier.

The advocacy groups, which reportedly include the Arc of the United States, the National Down Syndrome Congress and the American Association of People with Disabilities, met with studio executives last week, but DreamWorks apparently has no plans to alter the film.

“We have had productive discussions with representatives of disability advocacy organizations and look forward to working with them closely in the future. However, no changes or cuts to the film will be made,” DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan told Reuters. “‘Tropic Thunder’ is an R-rated comedy that satirizes Hollywood and its excesses, and makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the top characters in ridiculous situations. The film is in no way meant to disparage or harm the image of individuals with disabilities.”

Sullivan admitted that “Simple Jack” promotional materials from “Thunder” that the studio felt could be perceived as offensive out of the context of the film had been taken down.

Stiller himself defended the film, telling MTV News that the jokes were really aimed at actors.

“It’s sort of edgy territory, but we felt that as long as the focus was on the actors who were trying to do something to be taken seriously that’s going too far or wrong, that was where the humor would come from,” Stiller said. “[The joke is on] actors reaching for roles in terms of hopefully winning awards.”

And Etan Cohen, who scripted the film with Stiller and Justin Theroux, felt similarly.

“Some people have taken this as making fun of handicapped people, but we’re really trying to make fun of the actors who use this material as fodder for acclaim,” he told MTV News. “The last thing you want is for people to think you’re making fun of the victims in this who are having their lives turned into fodder for people to win Oscars.”