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Catholic Group Threatens Battle With Miller Beer Over Racy Ad

By JOSH GERSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 27, 2007

PALO ALTO, Calif. — A Catholic group is threatening an all-out battle with Miller Brewing Co. after the firm distanced itself from a raunchy San Francisco street fair but apparently did not end its sponsorship of the event.

The Catholic League has expressed outrage over the poster for this year's fair, which takes place on Sunday. The poster, which evokes a renowned Leonardo da Vinci painting, "The Last Supper," shows semi-nude men and women in bondage attire seated at a table cluttered with sex toys, whips, and various restraints.

After protests from the Catholic League and another conservative group, Concerned Women for America, Miller said Tuesday that it was asking to have its logo removed from the poster.

"While Miller has supported the Folsom Street Fair for several years, we take exception to the poster the organizing committee developed this year. We understand some individuals may find the imagery offensive," a Miller spokesman, Julian Green, said in a statement sent by e-mail.

The president of the Catholic League, William Donohue, said his group recently discovered that fair organizers are holding a "Last Supper With the Sisters" event to "prepare your mortal flesh for the kinkiest weekend on Earth." The gathering is to benefit a group Mr. Donohue called "anti-Catholic and misogynist," the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The sisters call themselves "queer nuns."

Mr. Donohue faulted Miller for refusing to cut ties with the fair in light of the "Sisters" connection. "This is an ethical and marketing fiasco of colossal proportions," he said. "It really is ‘Miller Time.'… Miller has decided to side with a small band of depraved and bigoted gays against Catholics … and Protestants."

The Catholic activist said he would announce some kind of action against Miller today. "The collision course that Miller wants with Christians is now on," he said.

Mr. Green did not respond to an e-mail seeking further comment last night.

The nonprofit group that organizes the fair, billed as "the granddaddy of all leather events," issued a statement Tuesday defending the poster and saying it was not intended "to be particularly pro-religion or anti-religion."

Asked about the Catholic League's latest complaints, a spokesman for the fair, Patrick Finger, said, "We have no further comment on this issue."

As of yesterday, the Miller Light and Miller Genuine Draft logos, are still on the poster on the fair's Web site. It also lists the beers as "presenting sponsors" of the event, along with two "hardcore" pornography sites, Nakedsword.com and TitanMen.com.

Reader comments on this article

Title	By	Date
Boycott of Miller Brewing Co. [41 words]	Robert J. Hanlon	Dec 6, 2007 11:42
↔ boycotting ditirbuters think twice plz [53 words]	catholic beer man	Dec 7, 2007 21:29
Homosexuality and Virtue [20 words]	Tom	Nov 7, 2007 02:06
↔ may god bless you [43 words]	mr catholic	Dec 7, 2007 21:41
Lack of common decency.. [137 words]	Geneva Bailey	Oct 14, 2007 10:57
...we should boycott San Francisco for allowing such acts!!! [58 words]	sara tace	Oct 10, 2007 13:25
Its MY painting, so there! [57 words]	H215	Sep 29, 2007 09:35
↔ every citizen have a right to say anything [35 words]	Joe	Oct 8, 2007 12:26
↔ How do we balance free speech [48 words]	Joe	Oct 8, 2007 12:35
Lets show tolerance for everybody-unless its Christians [248 words]	truthteller	Sep 29, 2007 00:19
Protestant support on the way!! [58 words]	Kevin	Sep 28, 2007 16:47
↔ Thank you to my Protestant Brothers & Sisters [138 words]	Joan	Sep 30, 2007 03:50
Why Boycott Miller [75 words]	EJ	Sep 28, 2007 14:58
Queer is still in My dictionary [58 words]	Gary E	Sep 28, 2007 11:14
Give me a break [124 words]	Patrick	Sep 28, 2007 11:06
I dare you to try this cheap shot with any other religion.. [51 words]	Joe	Sep 28, 2007 10:47
↔ Folsom Street Fair [60 words]	Tom Moats	Oct 9, 2007 16:32
God Have mercy on their souls [150 words]	Pat from Indiana	Sep 28, 2007 10:31
↔ May God have mercy.... [49 words]	Mom in Arizona	Oct 18, 2007 15:04
Peripheral vision [288 words]	Fred Harwell	Sep 28, 2007 09:22
Comments on the comments [156 words]	Joe	Sep 28, 2007 09:06
No more [56 words]	Charles	Sep 28, 2007 07:23
Miller Beer [5 words]	Pat Rothman	Sep 28, 2007 01:59
↔ What beer to drink today [37 words]	George	Sep 28, 2007 07:59
No end to attachs on Christianity [413 words]	Rita	Sep 28, 2007 00:59
Miller's Corporate Insanity [161 words]	Brian G	Sep 28, 2007 00:21
Tolerance for Gays?!? [52 words]	Sharon	Sep 27, 2007 20:47
A celebration of freedom or an outburst of disrespect? [59 words]	John House	Sep 27, 2007 19:55
Miller light - unfulfilling and distasteful [22 words]	Eddie Rosaldo	Sep 27, 2007 19:29
I agree with Omar [124 words]	Hal	Sep 27, 2007 18:04
Miller Boycott [96 words]	Tony	Sep 27, 2007 17:51
Have I offended you? [53 words]	John	Sep 27, 2007 17:25
Miller time [30 words]	don	Sep 27, 2007 16:44
mockery of religion??? [113 words]	AW	Sep 27, 2007 16:07
The Gay Beer Battles Continue [246 words]	Len	Sep 27, 2007 16:06
↔ Sexual preference as a diversity [30 words]	Fred	Sep 30, 2007 14:54
Ashamed to be a Catholic [59 words]	Dan	Sep 27, 2007 15:56
↔ Reply to Dan and everyone missing the point [677 words]	Chris	Sep 28, 2007 09:51
Miller No More [66 words]	Alicia	Sep 27, 2007 15:53
Bye Bye [14 words]	C G Byrd	Sep 27, 2007 15:36
Enough is enough. [181 words]	Tom	Sep 27, 2007 15:30
↔ When Will We Learn? [158 words]	Dean	Oct 11, 2007 03:59
Free speech/Iraq war: Completely unrelated issues [108 words]	George	Sep 27, 2007 14:46
Miller King of Queers [49 words]	Hyme Scary	Sep 27, 2007 14:39
↔ What free speach? [47 words]	Jimmy	Sep 27, 2007 19:02
↔ Man Laws [165 words]	TJ	Sep 28, 2007 05:23
Gays ask for tolerance? to do this mockering of Christianity? [105 words]	Edison Quevedo	Sep 27, 2007 14:37
↔ BRAVO!! [51 words]	K W Coombs	Sep 28, 2007 00:37
↔ It's so easy for you to lump everyone together, takes no thought [113 words]	david	Oct 1, 2007 15:45
Last Supper with the Sisters [150 words]	Heidi	Sep 27, 2007 13:49
↔ Last Spper Wth the Ssters [21 words]	Richard	Sep 28, 2007 02:45
Miller Star of David Tit Clamps [75 words]	David Gordon	Sep 27, 2007 13:39
What of free speech? [88 words]	Omar	Sep 27, 2007 13:35
↔ Omar: Freedom of Speech [125 words]	Sarge	Sep 27, 2007 13:46
↔ How civilized people react. [15 words]	Maxxs	Sep 27, 2007 14:18
↔ Under the Bus [26 words]	Steve	Sep 27, 2007 14:20
↔ Isn't the still a war in Iraq [21 words]	Stephen	Sep 27, 2007 14:36
↔ Lets get the Presidential Hopefulls to give their opinion! [22 words]	Ted Dean	Sep 27, 2007 14:44
↔ free to flaunt your decadence [241 words]	Andrea	Sep 27, 2007 14:51
↔ General Pace and The Episcipalian Debate - That is offensive. [294 words]	Ralph Petrucci	Sep 27, 2007 15:08
↔ San Francisco values..... think Sodom and Gomorroh [173 words]	Cal Mike	Sep 27, 2007 15:17
↔ the ultimate price of free speech................... [26 words]	charlotte	Sep 27, 2007 15:21
↔ Support or Boycott? [568 words]	Robert	Sep 27, 2007 17:03
↔ Miller Brewing Company = Basher [101 words]	Dave	Sep 27, 2007 17:08
↔ Of course there is still a war! [59 words]	Joe	Sep 27, 2007 17:57
↔ How low can you go [51 words]	Speechless	Sep 27, 2007 18:34
↔ Deviance or Difference [121 words]	Marta	Sep 27, 2007 19:26
↔ The war in Iraq [91 words]	exmarine	Sep 28, 2007 17:09
↔ The Catholic response [245 words]	Claud	Sep 28, 2007 18:05
↔ freedom has responsibilities and freedon is not free [40 words]	glenn	Sep 29, 2007 18:46
↔ Are you really so blind? [81 words]	david	Oct 2, 2007 16:05
↔ to Omar's response [123 words]	Maria	Oct 21, 2007 21:00

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