Controversy over Shut Up and Sing

By Scott Macaulay

What a difference three years makes. On October 27, 2006, Variety ran a story that recounted claims by the Weinstein Company that NBC and the CW refused to run ads for the Dixie Chicks' movie, Shut Up and Sing, a documentary by Barbara Kopple that recounted the country group's tour following their public criticism of the Bush administration. According to the Weinsteins, NBC's commercial clearance department rejected the ad, writing that it "cannot accept these spots because they are disparaging to President Bush." Progressive commentators jumped on NBC, while others accused the Weinsteins of generating fake controversy, noting a statement from NBC saying that the network would work with the distributor to make the ad acceptable to the network. In either case, the row was good publicity, helping attract attention to a film that critics largely embraced and which grossed over $1 million at the box office.