'Ted' Joke Offends ALS Patients

John, played by Mark Wahlberg, hangs out with his best friend, Ted in the film "Ted." (Universal Pictures/Tippett Studio)

A punch line from the movie "Ted" has people with Lou Gehrig's disease crying foul.

"From one man to another, I hope you get Lou Gehrig's disease," Mark Wahlberg's "John" says to his foul-mouthed teddy bear friend -- a quip some patients say crossed a line.

"I didn't expect to go to a movie and sit with an audience laughing at the expense of people with ALS," said Randy Pipkin, who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 2005. "I think the message this film sends out is a huge slap in the face to people dying from this horrific disease."

Lou Gehrig's disease progressively robs people of their ability to move, speak, eat and breathe. There is no cure.

"This line from Ted is something that never should have been said much less survived the editing process for a major movie release especially as a punch line for a comedy," Jeff Lester, an ALS patient from Lebanon, Mo., wrote in an open letter to Wahlberg and "Ted" writer Seth MacFarlane posted on Facebook.

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Urban Outfitters offends yet another group: The Irish

By Maura Judkis
Proving that they are equal-opportunity offenders, just a day after the Navajo Nation filed suit against Urban Outfitters for trademark infringement, the retailer has upset yet another group: The Irish.
The company’s St. Patrick’s Day-themed t-shirts and other items have rankled Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, the largest Irish American organization in the U.S., for depicting unflattering stereotypes of the Irish.


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