UPDATE OCTOBER 14:

Wow, so this just doesn't stop. I just saw a preview from the latest issue of Rolling Stone Magazine in which Madonna (she's on the cover) gives an in depth interview on her career and life.  One paragraph in which she speaks about musical regrets or predicting a hit. Here is the excerpt, please note the bold is my addition:

But Madonna doesn’t have many musical regrets. She tells Scaggs about writing “Live to Tell” and “Vogue,” returning with a head full of brand-new ideas on Ray of Light and teaming with some of the industry’s biggest hitmakers on Hard Candy. But after all these years, she admits she still can’t sniff out a Number One. “I’ve never been a good judge of what things are going to be huge or not. The songs that I think are the most retarded songs I’ve written, like ‘Cherish’ and ‘Sorry,’ a pretty big hit off my last album, end up being the biggest hits,” she tells RS. ” ‘Into the Groove’ is another song I feel retarded singing, but everybody seems to like it.”

So, what are your thoughts?  What do you think about the fact that the media is speaking about Madonna and Guy Ritchie fighting back and forth, but NO ONE is talking about the hurtful language they are using by throwing around the R-word with reckless abandon.  Share your thoughts in the comments below along with your thoughts on Guy Ritchie's recent usage as outlined below.

Original Post - October 8

By now you've probably heard about the most recent, or at least most publicly recent, uttering of the R-word (retarded) by yet another celebrity.  This time around it was indeed used as an insult from director/producer Guy Ritchie in reference to his former wife Madonna. Said Ritchie in an interview published on October 7 from Esquire Magazine, "I still lover her, but she's retarded too."

Of coursre it was just last October that Madonna referred to Guy Ritchie as "emotionally retarded" while on stage in Boston in front of 20,000 people.

Sigh...

I'm going to let the tabloids dive into the obvious comments about immaturity, lack of originality or overt comparisons to the verbal equivalent of limp wristed slap fights going on between Madonna and Ritchie.  That's their business.

What concerns me, actually check that, what annoys the crap out of me, is that a year after Madonna's uttering of the R-word toward Ritchie, we've gone exactly nowhere as a society despite the efforts around the "Tropic Thunder" protests, the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign and so forth.  Don't get me wrong, there's been lots of great work and there is lots of great work being done right now to continue the battle for respect and dignity for people with intellectual disabilities by raising society's awareness to the hurtful nature of the R-word.  But man is it frustrating sometimes. 

So in an effort to work off some of that frustration, I'd like to encourage you to let Guy Ritchie know how you feel about him using the R-word as an insult.  Tell him how it makes you feel.  Tell him why it hurts.  Tell him why he should stop.  Tell him about the accomplishments you've made in your life.  Tell him that you expect better from him.  Invite him to one of your local Special Olympics events and ask him how he feels about using the R-word afterwards.

If you need some inspiration in what message to send to Mr. Ritchie, I've embedded the letter that our Chairman, Tim Shriver, sent to Madonna after last year's incident.  There will be a letter of similar nature going to Mr. Ritchie in the immediate future, rest assured.

Other than that, please find various contact information for Guy Ritchie below. Happy writing!

Ritchie's Talent Agency:

Mr. Guy Ritchie
c/o Beth Swofford
Creative Artists Agency
2000 Avenue Of The Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067
USA
Phone: 424-288-2000
Fax: 424-288-2900
http://www.caa.com/

Mr Ritchie's Management Group

Mr. Guy Ritchie
c/o Anonymous Content
32 Hayden Ave
Culver City, CA 90232
USA
Phone: 310-558-6000
Fax: 310-558-4212
http://www.anonymouscontent.com/