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Philadelphia Councilman Starts Petition To Change 'R' Rating Of 'Bully' Movie

By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A Philadelphia City Councilman has started a petition drive to get the "R" rating removed from a documentary about bullying, a film that he says needs to be seen by all high school students.

The documentary Bully is due to open in theaters at month's end, and City Councilman Jim Kenney believes Philadelphia public and parochial schools should be showing it to students.

"This film, for me, is more about the kids who are not the bullies -- the kids who are spectators, so that they find the power to step in, in a helpful and purposeful way, to stop this stuff."

The problem is there are five obscenities in the film that prompted Bully to get an "R" rating-- and that means school districts won't show it.

"They're not going to be able to take these kids to an 'R' rated movie."

And that infuriates Kenney. "I can watch Arnold Schwarzenegger kill 100 people, and it's PG-13. I don't think language should be the determining factor on its rating."

He believes the film sheds light on how to deal with bullying. "The effects of the film are much more positive than the five obscenities."

So, Kenney has a petition at his Facebook page to urge the Motion Picture Association of America to change the rating. "We have a goal of three hundred thousand signatures that we can do online."

There's also a national petition at Change.org.

For more on the documentary and to see a trailer, go to TheBullyProject.com.

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