Madeleine Coverage

The BBC now reporting that the film with 'similarities' to this case has been axed, for fear of upsetting the family.

I think this is rather ridiculous.

I heard this morning here in NZ that the premier was just being delayed a few months.

Why should anyone consider Kate and Gerry's feelings anyway?

My understand (based on something I heard recently, not watched today's coverage) was that it just wouldn't be released in Britain, but was definitely proceeding as normal elsewhere.

The full story from Ceefax:

US film pulled over McCann case
A US film about a four-year-old girl's disappearance has had its UK release shelved because of similarities to the Madeleine McCann case.

Gone Baby Gone, the directorial debut of actor Ben Affleck, had been due to be released on 28 December.

Distributor Buena Vista International, however, has postponed it indefinitely.

Madeline O'Brien, who plays the missing girl in Gone Baby Gone, bears a close resemblance to Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in Portugal on 3 May.

That really is dumb, we shouldn't postpone something for the feelings of two people.

EDIT: Read further about this and the film isn't due for release until late December, we have truly become the bleeding heart fools of the world if we're in essence banning a film because it bares similarities with a overly public case of moronic proportions. Well done, Diana screwed us up and made us so emotional over things we have no connection to we're now doing prohibition.

Not to mention there are thousands of girls who look like Madeleine, though it was doubly unfortunate the girl in the film shared the same name.

Oh, well now... When has it been since that the needs of the few outweigh the many? There's no chance that I'd see this film but I'd like to have the option to do so without some attention grabbing misfits and the gaggle of gormless morons who are so invested in it they may as well have lost their kid named Maddie also telling me I can't.

That's absolutely ridiculous. I don't understand why so many people are pandering to these two as if they are celebrities. It's really bugging me. Children go missing all the time around the world, but do they get this ridiculous coverage/treatment? No, they're reduced to a quick mention on the news...if that. These McCanns are seemingly basking in the media spotlight. To be frank, they don't look that upset that their daughter is missing. Did you see the father of that teenage girl who went missing earlier this week in Hampshire? He was absolutely heartbroken and could hardly speak. Now, that's the parent of a missing child...

It could be argued the McCanns being middle class has something to do with how they present themselves...and as doctors they may have to break bad news to people on a regular basis. Just a thought.

To be honest I don't think any of us have the right to judge how the parents of a missing child should be feeling nor behaving in public. Sitting entirely on the fence (which is very unlike me) I can only say that everybody deals with tragedy in their own way: whether they are keeping their emotions hidden behind poker faces or wailing and gesticulating to god, it is not for anybody to decide which they should be doing, nor for that matter to use that public image to pass judgement on their fitness or suitability to be a parent.

I vote that we ban :-

All films featuring black children due to the number that starve every day.

Any film featuring an Italian to avoid offending the family of the recently deceased Paverotti.

Films regarding death row... out of respect to those who have been executed.

Films on Saddam Hussein, to avoid upsetting his cousin, Chemical Ali.

I would have thought the decision to postpone the film would be more down to the public reaction than anything else.