Donald Wildmon Dies: Led Film, TV Boycotts For American Family Assn., Was 85

Bruce Haring
·1 min read
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Donald E. Wildmon, whose American Family Association led boycotts over sexuality and gay themes in American TV shows and in the arts, died on Dec. 28 in Tupelo, Miss. He was 85.

The cause was Lewy body dementia, according to a statement posted by the American Family Association.

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Wildmon-led groups ran full-page advertisements denouncing the 1990s police drama NYPD Blue for what it called “steamy sex scenes”; and picketed a Hollywood studio over Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ.

In 1982, Wildmon called for national brands to withdraw ads from an NBC-TV movie written by the poet Maya Angelou, Sister, Sister. Wildmon claimed the film promoted “negative stereotyping of Christian people.”

He also led attacks on the National Endowment for the Arts over its grants for work that many conservatives considered obscene.

The pastor founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977, later renamed the American Family Association.

He is survived by three children, Tim, Angela, and Mark Wildmon, and Donna Wildmon Clement, his wife, Lynda Bennett Wildmon, a sister, Louise Yancy six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

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