NBC debuts a new reality show Monday night (Aug. 13) called “Stars Earn Stripes,” which pairs celebrities with U.S. military personnel and puts them through simulated military training. But nine Nobel Peace Laureates want the show pulled by NBC because “war isn’t entertainment,” reports the Washington Post.
In a letter to NBC entertainment chariman Bob Greenblatt, producer Mark Burnett and General Wesley Clark, the host of the series, the Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, write, “This program pays homage to no one anywhere and continues and expands on
an inglorious tradition of glorifying war and armed violence.”
They continue that the show is a “massive disservice to those who live and die in armed conflict and suffer its consequences long after the guns of war fall silent.”
“NBC is working with the military to attempt to turn deadly military training into a sanitized ‘reality’ TV show that reveals absolutely nothing of the reality of being a soldier in war or the consequences of war,” the letter finishes.
The nine Laureates who signed the letter are Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, President Jose Ramos-Horta, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, President Oscar Arias Sanchez, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Betty Williams and the aforementioned Tutu.