Kindergarten Cop Banned From Oregon Film Festival
30 years later, a family comedy is called out
The 90’s comedy that stars Arnold Schwarzenegger has been banned from a film festival in Oregon after protesters claimed the movie glorified police traumatizing children.
In Kindergarten Cop, Arnie played a police officer who goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher in order to catch a drug dealer targeting his ex-wife and son.
The movie was originally scheduled to screen to mark the film’s 30th anniversary and the state’s history in filmmaking. Kindergarten Cop was filmed in Astoria, Oregon.
Activist and author Lois Leveen Tweeted, “Yes, KINDERGARTEN COP is only a movie. So are BIRTH OF A NATION and GONE WITH THE WIND, but we recognize films like those are not ‘good family fun,’’ Leveen said in a tweet.
“They are relics of how pop culture feeds racist assumptions,’’ the author added. “There’s nothing entertaining about the presence of police in schools, which feeds the ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline in which African American, Latinx, and other kids of color are criminalized rather than educated,’’ Leveen said in another tweet.
