AIDA's founder Ted Grippo, and OSIA's Executive Deputy Director, Dona De Sanctis
appeared on the Sunday, April 20, broadcast of E! Network's True Hollywood Story on "The Sopranos".

The Good News is that Ted Grippo and Dona De Sanctis were able to make critical points. The Bad News that in a 2 hour program, they were afforded SO LITTLE time to expand on their views.

Bouquets to AIDA and OSIA for insisting on the "platform".
Brickbats to E! for making their appearance a "sop".

This two-hour segment has been rebroadcast a number of times since last Sunday and probably will continue to be re-aired, so look for it if you missed it.

Given the show's length (2 hours) and the considerable amount of fluff, just the soundbites from AIDA's Ted Grippo and OSIA's Dona De Sanctis are included.

However, also incorporated are Robert Ailer's remarks (He plays AJ, Jr.),
because his remarks were so Contradictory.

In one soundbite he complains that people think his father really is in the Mafia,
and in the next he says that the show is only "make believe", and
can't possibly "affect" how people think about Italians.   (??????)

Too bad we couldn't have inquired if ILER's (a non Italian) appearance on "Sopranos" AFFECTED his personal behavior, since he was arrested in 2001 for he and three freinds were part of a mugging, $40 robbery of two teenage Brazilian boy tourists, after asking them if they "wanted to die."

Perhaps he would defend those "cowardly" bullying actions as being predisposed, rather than "acquired"???

( More on Robert Iler, "Spokesperson" for "The Sopranos", an "authority" at 18, of  "Media Influence", but a "lost ball in tall weeds" in his personal life, at bottom).

E! Network is the home of Anna Nicole Smith, and Howard Stern. 'Nuff said.
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TRANSCRIPT: ...........

NARRATOR:  The reruns of the Sopranos attracted a whole new legion of viewers, but not everyone liked what they saw.  Director of the Sons of Italy, Dona De Sanctis:

DONA De SANCTIS, Sons of Italy:  The problem that Italian-Americans and the Order Sons of Italy has with the Sopranos is the manner in which the show uses Italian-American values, our traditions,  our customs and even our religion in a context that's really despicable.

NARRATOR:  In early September 1999, the conflict reached the boiling point.  Italian-American groups planned to protest in front of HBO's New York City headquarters. Mayor Rudy Giuliani arranged for the two sides to air their differences.

De SANCTIS:  At these meetings, we bring to them story ideas about Italian-Americans in interesting situations removed from a mafia context.  We bring them ideas about Italian-American war heroes, founders of industry, documentaries that can be done.  They always listen to us, they always smile politely, and then we see the reruns of the Sopranos.

NARRATOR:  Italian-Americans were not handing out any honors to the Sopranos. But Hollywood was a different story.

De SANCTIS:  People always say, well, you know, what about Dr. Melfi? She's an Italian-American, she's a woman, she's a psychiatrist.  I say, yes, she's also an alcoholic who tells her own psychiatrist that she hates all her patients.

NARRATOR:  The Chicago-based American Italian Defense organization decided to fire back at Tony and his crew.

De SANCTIS:  There is a clause in the Illinois constitution that says that it's wrong to defame a person and his religion, race, and ethnicity.  And it's wrong to do so using the public airwaves.  So the American Italian Defense Association filed a suit in the Illinois courts saying that the Sopranos was in violation of the Illinois constitution.  They never wanted to get the show off the air.  They did want to draw attention to the fact that the show presents Italian-Americans in a very unflattering light and this is wrong.

NARRATOR:  Ted Grippo is the chairman of the American Italian Defense Association.

TED GRIPPO, Chairman, AIDA:  Italian-Americans are spoken of as having criminal in their genes, criminal activities come from their genes - they're born with it.  There are statements like that in the various shows.  We object to that very seriously.

NARRATOR:  Once again, Italian-American groups were up in arms.

GRIPPO:  I received phone calls from women around the country.  A few of them were virtually in tears talking about how ugly this was and how they can't understand how American society can let this kind of television appear.

NARRATOR:  But the Sopranos family defended their work.

GRIPPO:  These are token individuals.  I don't think there is any balance to the show at all.   We brought a lawsuit against Time Warner, and the lawsuit merely asked the court or a jury to determine, or declare that the Sopranos violates the Illinois constitution.

NARRATOR:  The Illinois court system did not agree and the suit was dismissed.

GRIPPO:  We appealed it, all the way up to the Illinois Supreme Court.  We were not successful in that way, but we did indicate our response and we raised the level of consciousness - the debate, if you will.
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ROBERT ILER, ("A.J. Soprano"):  They totally think, like, Tony Soprano is my dad.  It's like, so like when your dad is in the mob, is that cool?  Like, can you buy a lot of things?  I'm like, dude, I don't know; my dad is an engineer.

NARRATOR:  The cast had a different opinion.

ILER:  It's just TV.  That's why it's there, you know?  If TV was exactly like real life, nobody would watch it.  It's like people tune in to TV to see something different, something that's sometimes not going on in real life.  Nobody watches that show and all of a sudden now doesn't like Italian people.
.........
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Thanks to OSIA for furnishing that transcript.
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MORE ON ROBERT ILER:

Robert's parents never married and had him when they were only teenagers, ..
His dad lives in upstate New York and his mom Helen lives in a POSH Manhattan apartment with Robert. (So underprivliged and deprived :(

"They both love him but have been too caught up in their own problems to notice Robert crying out for attention"...(Not enough attention from starring on a top Series
for 5 years. The kid must be a bottomless pit)

At the time of his arrest, Iler acted like a smart aleck while in custody. Iler was defiant, according to police. "F*** you. Don't worry about me. I'm a millionaire"..

When told his parents had arrived, said to cops, "They deal with their own problems."

Those problems have left Robert so hungry for strong parental guidance that on-set sources say he has adopted "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, who plays his TV dad on the hit show, as a father figure. Divulged the source close to Iler, "He looks at James as a kind of surrogate father." (Wait a minute, Robert. Is your "functioning" father an Engineer, an Actor, or a Mob Boss??? :)

"Friends in Robert Iler's life need to reach out and help the boy before it's too late".

And this is someone we should be receiving "guidance" from???
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I was amused by the following SATIRE!!!! from Hollywood Pulse. Com,
and reminded that there is often a degree of truth in jest.

Gandolfini Blames Mob Life for TV Son's Arrest

James Gandolfini came to the defense of Robert Iler, the actor who plays his son on the hit HBO mob show "The Sopranos" -- claiming that Iler's arrest last summer for robbery was due in large measure to Gandolfini's real-life ties to the Mafia.

Iler is facing 15 years in prison for his alleged role in the robbery of two teenagers in Manhattan last summer. With the trial coming up in May, Gandolfini wrote a letter to a New York judge asking for the court to be lenient and in which he noted that his son's being a Soprano is obviously the real problem.

But the judge would be "taken care of, one way or another," Gandolfini promised. "This isn't a Sopranos problem. It's a judicial problem. Because my problem is their problem. When I got a problem, they got a problem. And right now -- because they got a problem with my TV kid -- I got a problem. Anybody got a problem with that?"

Gandolfini said that Iler faces a great deal of pressure working with older and more experienced "made guys."

"Robert is always trying to impress me and the other guys in our, uh, family," he wrote to the judge, mentioning guys like Uncle Junior, Pauley Walnuts and the late Big Pussy by name. "He is under the impression that the more trouble he gets in, the more his family members will like him. I assure you, your Honor, that this robbery was a simple cry for acceptance."

Iler was unavailable for comment, but his lawyer told HollywoodPulse.com in an exclusive interview that he appreciates Gandolfini's gesture.

"It was very kind of Mr. Gandolfini to point out what Robert faces on a daily basis," he said. "It's easier for the adults in his life to separate fiction from reality, but it's more difficult for somebody Robert's age. When he comes home to his father's Jersey 'family,' he feels as if he is entitled to be a mobster, and with that comes a tendency -- and almost an obligation -- to break the law."

The judge disagrees: "I can't believe that Mr. Gandolfini or Mr. Iler's lawyer actually expect the court to believe that this kid deserves a break simply because he has such criminally-inclined role models. However, because I wouldn't mind living to see my children grow up, let me just say this: Case dismissed!"
Hollywood Pulse.com--Archives2-11
http://www.hollywoodpulse.com/archives2-11.html#Gandolfini
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E! Network World Headquarters in Los Angeles, telephone operator stated that there was no Email addresses available, and herefore I was unable to send them a copy of this Report. I was told that they have no 800 number. I called the local LA number--323-954-2400, and left my comments on their Viewer Hotline Recording.

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