Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably missed all the commotion over ex-Doctor Andrew Jeremy Wakefield’s anti-vaccine film being utterly rejected from the Tribeca Film Festival. Seriously, his 1998 case study of a handful of children which concluded that vaccines do not cause autism should have been rejected just as quickly. But beggars can’t be choosers.
So much for Anti-Vax Jesus.
“To our community, Andrew Wakefield is Nelson Mandela and Jesus Christ rolled up into one.” – JB Handley
While Wakefield and his followers are almost literally crying over this hell of a setback, and crying about violations of their First Amendment right to freely express themselves as if YouTube wasn’t a thing, Andrew Jeremy has no one to blame but himself. Had he been a little more humble about the film being accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival, had he just put his ego aside and let the film be screened first before he went yelling from the mountaintop that it was accepted… Had he just kept his goddamned trap shut, he would have avoided this embarrassment of monumental proportions.
Seriously, Andy, if you’re reading this, I hope this is a lesson to you. Had you just stayed quiet, you could have been boasting today that your student AV club of a movie (with all of its lies and inconsistencies) was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. You could have had the movie seen by thousands (maybe) and then raise interest in distribution companies. You could have made a lot of cash, and it looks like you need it.
Instead, as is the case with everything that Andrew Jeremy Wakefield touches, his documentary film is now toxic. Only a fringe distribution company would pick it up at this point. (You know the kind, a distribution company that hires $1 theaters to show films to true believers.) Not only is Andrew Jeremy Wakefield not a doctor and not a film director, but he seems to be a horrible businessman as well.
Anyway, Andrew Jeremy Wakefield went and told the loonies to go and support the film. When Robert De Niro posted on Facebook that he supported the movie because, get this, he wanted a dialogue or something, the anti-vaccine weirdos showed up in force to counter the reasonable comments of scientists, skeptics, and bloggers. And, boy, did the antivaxxers make a spectacle of themselves.
There was everything in those comments. From claiming that everyone who supports vaccines and opposes Wakefield’s movie is in league with Big Bad Voodoo Pharma, to claiming that someone or some group threatened De Niro in order to get the film withdrawn. And the anti-vax bingo you can play with their comments. Jesus!
So it’s no wonder that even after talking to a US Representative for an hour (or so they claim), and after desperately trying to save his AV club film, Andrew Jeremy Wakefield failed to have the film screened. Seriously, how many more things does former doctor Wakefield need retracted for him to throw in the towel and go sell perfume at a mall in Egypt or something?
Poor Lord and Saviour Andy. He should have kept his mouth shut.
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Andrew Wakefield, the CMOT Dibbler of medicine. Always pushing dodgy merchandise in the hope of making a fast buck.
Wakefield could always release his “film” for free. If it’s so important they get the word out, why should the finances matter?
I think we all know the answer to that one Dr. Hickie. Wakefraud wants the patina of legitimacy of the TFF and a distributor to pick it up so Wakefraud can make some coin. That’s what his source of income is these days. The sleazy parasite.
I was pondering if I’d ever see this “film” available through Redbox–but more likely it would be found in Smallpox.
Sheesh Reuben, don’t give the man any pro-tips. Not that he’d listen anyway, apparently he’s told Jake (ZOMG YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST ON AUTISM INVESTIGATED) Crosby that he is going to seek his medical licence back. Given the rather steep hurdles he’d have to get over (who knows how long the fits of laughter at the GMC would go on to even read his application), I guess he could seek a medical licence in Kazakhstan or somesuch country.
No sympathy for Mr. Wakefield, or his flying monkeys, from me.
But I feel sorry for Robert DeNiro, who was probably acting with the best of intentions and didn’t realize what a stinker (person and movie) he was dealing with. To quote RationalWiki:
” Never assume malice when stupidity will suffice.
Never assume stupidity when ignorance will suffice.
Never assume ignorance when forgivable error will suffice.
Never assume error when information you hadn’t adequately accounted for will suffice.”
And I feel sorry for the festival, which finds itself with a controversy it doesn’t need – unless you’re a fan of the “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” school.
Well, admitting that one fouled up can move one’s reputation upward.
He went from shot in the arm to shot in the foot, all because he had to blab.
I guess he never learned, loose lips sink ships.
I hear he’s selling his properties in Texas and that they’ve been on the market for quite some time now, I guess business is down for him.
Good.