Entertainment
Metro Yanks Fox TV Show Bus Ads Branded as Racist, Offensive to Women
This Feb. 26, 2012 photo, Octavia Spencer arrives before the 84th Academy Awards at the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
(Los Angeles Times) – An advertisement for the new Fox television show “Red Band Society” was abruptly pulled from Los Angeles Metro buses Thursday after activists complained it was racist and offensive.
The ads for the series that premiered this week show actress Octavia Spencer next to the words “Scary Bitch.” Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Marc Littman said the agency decided to remove the ad because that label “denigrates women.”
“That speaks for itself,” Littman said. “That was not acceptable.”
The ads, which have been up for five weeks, will be removed from 190 Metro buses as soon as possible, said Metro spokesman Dave Sotero.
