MPAA Knuckles Under On Draft Day Rating

Days after Motion Picture Association of America head Joan Graves stated that "parents don't want even one F-word in PG-13" rated movies, her organization has changed the R rating on a profanity-riddled film…to PG-13. The Los Angeles Times reports that the new football-themed film Draft Day was originally rated R by the MPAA for “brief strong language.” Yet rather than requiring the filmmakers to either accept the rating or cut out some of the foul language, the MPAA happily rolled over for the filmmakers just because they asked for a lower rating – one which will expose millions of children to the f-bomb and other graphic profanity. This yet another example of how the MPAA refuses to put its own house in order – and why the PTC has called for a complete overhaul of the TV and movie ratings systems. Only when media ratings are accurate, consistent, transparent, and accountable to the public will they be of any value. Yet the MPAA continues to bow and scrape before the industry it allegedly monitors. “Although successful rating appeals are historically somewhat rare, Draft Day marks the second such victory in the last few months. In October, the Weinstein Co. got Philomena downgraded from an R to PG-13,” notes the Times. Indeed, at the rate the MPAA is knuckling under to filmmakers these days, one wonders whether soon there will be any films rated R at all.