Sickle-cell disease is no joke

The promise made about the NBCUniversal franchise Ted 2 is equal opportunity insult. The movie mocks people with vision loss, "homos," and "nerds," but it reaches a nadir of nasty when it pillories people with sickle-cell disease.

As a doctor, and as a sickle-cell survivor, I think Ted 2 promulgates hurtful racial stereotypes and delivers incorrect medical information.

Written by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, Ted 2 follows a teddy bear and his guy friend, John, played by Mark Wahlberg, on their improbable quest to achieve humanity. The two go to a sperm bank, and John gets doused in "rejected" donations from men with sickle-cell disease. Ted says John is covered in "black guy sperm." Ted takes a picture on his phone and posts it on Facebook. Hilarious.

Contrary to the implication of Ted 2, men with sickle-cell disease can and do safely father children. Like Tay-Sachs and hemophilia, sickle cell is genetic. Both parents must have the sickle-cell trait for one of their children to get sickle-cell disease. If both parents have the trait, there is a one in four chance that the child will have sickle-cell disease.

Also contrary to the implication of Ted 2, sickle-cell disease is not limited to people of African descent. Yes, this condition affects 1 in 500 African Americans, but it also affects people from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, as well as countries in the Caribbean, Middle East, and Asia.

There has been amazing progress in extending the quality of life and longevity for people with sickle-cell disease. We've seen a shift toward developing and adopting new comprehensive treatment plans in the medical and pharmaceutical sectors, and new treatments are in clinical trials across the country.

I call myself a sickle-cell champion. We can and do lead productive lives. One of the things that I try to communicate to other doctors is that a positive attitude about living with the disease unlocks the ability to "live well with sickle cell." Movies like Ted 2, which make a crude joke of a serious challenge, make my job, and the job of all dedicated sickle-cell professionals, that much harder.

More so than not, it seems whenever sickle-cell disease comes up in a movie or on TV it's either a joke or a very negative characteristic. The trait almost kept Wesley Snipes off the team to save the planet in the movie Demolition Man. It made no sense at all but that's because Hollywood, like most of America, doesn't understand the disease.

We have made such strides in portraying the courage of people living with cancer and the bravery of people living with AIDS, but we have a long way to go when it comes to sickle-cell disease. That's why movies like Ted 2 are so harmful. They take us backward to a place and a time where it was OK, even encouraged, to make fun of black pain.

MacFarlane, who likes show tunes and is scheduled to sing this weekend in Philadelphia at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, might consider the Rodgers and Hammerstein song "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught." In case he doesn't remember, the lyrics go,

You've got to be taught

To hate and fear.

You've got to be taught

From year to year.

It's got to be drummed

In your dear little ear

You've got to be carefully taught.

Rodgers and Hammerstein were actually subject to widespread criticism for that 1949 song, but the musical greats insisted on keeping it in South Pacific. They believed it was very important to use their creativity to advance nondiscrimination and acceptance, and they told their friends that even if the song sank the show they were keeping it.

MacFarlane needs to make a choice. Is he an entertainer in the tradition of Rodgers and Hammerstein or is he following in the footsteps of Thomas "Daddy" Rice? In 1828, Rice observed a disabled black stable hand singing a jingle and trying to dance. Rice made fun of the disabled man in his stage show and his "Jim Crow" act became an instantaneous hit with white audiences.

There is nothing new about making fun of vulnerable segments of society, nothing new about mocking people with disabilities and illnesses. But it has never been a benefit to society.