The Dennis Prager/Adam Carolla documentary “No Safe Spaces,” which chronicles the academic Left’s politically correct war to stifle free speech on college campuses, has been slapped with a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. The documentary’s producers are now disputing the rating.
According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the PG-13 rating stems from a single, 30-second animated clip in which a character meant to personify free speech named “Firsty” gets pummeled with bullet holes, causing it to bleed. Dennis Prager, who stars in the film alongside comedian Adam Carolla, sent a letter to the MPAA asking that it reconsider the decision.
“Any kid who sees it will probably laugh,” Prager wrote to MPAA head Charles Rivkin.
Prager added that the character “Firsty” does not die and that he, as a prominent conservative activist, seeks “with all of [his] work to make content that is suitable for all ages.” Prager said he fears that the PG-13 rating will persuade certain parents to avoid showing the film to their children.
In hopes to maintain a PG rating, the documentary largely blurred and bleeped scenes in which protesters on college campuses hurled profanity at conservative speakers like Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro and Ann Coulter.
“But when it comes to Firsty, we would ask that you reconsider and allow the scene to remain and still achieve a PG rating so that we can reach the widest possible audience. A PG-13 rating would not reinforce people’s faith in MPAA’s ratings,” Prager wrote in the letter.
Insiders associated with the MPAA believed the rating was correct, arguing that the “Firsty” scene was “way too strong and violent.” In a statement to THR, the MPAA said that anyone who disputes a rating can formally appeal.
“Under the Classification and Rating Administration rules, the rating board maintains confidentiality and does not comment publicly about the details of the rating process for a particular film,” the spokesperson told THR. “The submitter of any film who objects to the given rating can choose to go to the appeals board. Non-MPAA member companies can choose to distribute their films unrated.”
The push to make “No Safe Spaces” a film reality has been ongoing since 2017, when Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla started an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund the documentary. It raised $684,684. Much of the documentary will focus on Prager and Carolla traveling to various college campuses, exploring the systematic crackdown there on free speech.
“Entitled snowflakes on college campuses raging and screaming every time they encounter an idea they disagree with,” reads the film’s Indiegogo page. “These stories might be somewhat amusing if they weren’t such a dangerous indication of what’s to come. Trigger warnings, micro-aggressions, the suppression of free speech, and other illogical ideas born on campuses are proliferating and spreading out into the real world.”
“Today’s campus snowflake is tomorrow’s teacher, judge, or elected official,” it continues. “And if that doesn’t scare you, maybe you should reconsider. No matter where you live or what you do, if you don’t think they way they do, they will attempt to silence and punish you.”