Days after Manhasset resident and former National Football League star Boomer Esiason blasted his alma mater, the University of Maryland, over a decision to postpone screenings of “American Sniper,” the school announced it would show the controversial war film after all.
“We were deluged by phone calls and messages from across the country, almost unanimously outraged by the cancellation or postponement,” wrote Maryland President Wallace D. Loh in a letter to students, which was posted to the school’s website Tuesday. “Members of our faculty, staff, students and alumni, as well as members of our state’s legislature, voiced their dismay with UMD’s abridgment of this constitutional right.
“Perhaps most disheartening, [Maryland Student Association]’s Facebook page was filled with some of the most venomous, racist, and hateful messages imaginable,” Loh wrote in the letter, which was posted on the university’s website Tuesday.
According to published reports, the school’s Republican and Democrat groups are preparing a screening of the film on Monday at 6 p.m., followed by a panel discussion.
Esiason tweeted from his @7BOOMERESIASON account on April 23 that he is “never donating another dime to U of MD,” adding that “as a 9/11/01 victim, I’m deeply saddened and insulted” and that the controversial war film’s protagonist, Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper, “is a HERO!”
Esiason, co-host of the WFAN morning sports radio program “Boomer and Carton,” has been vocal in recent weeks over his support for the film and United States military, as colleges around the country have declined to show the movie in response to outrage from student groups for its portrayal of the War on Terror.
Following Sept. 11, Esiason reportedly lost more than 200 friends who worked for his Boomer Esiason Foundation, a non-profit which raises money and awareness for cystic fibrosis research, whose headquarters was located in the World Trade Center.
The Academy Award-nominated “American Sniper” is based on the memoir penned by Kyle, the most decorated sniper in American history, and chronicles his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder following his return from the War on Terror.
The University of Michigan made national headlines when it canceled a screening of “American Sniper” in early April, prompting its head football coach, Jim Harbaugh, to publicly issue his support of the film.
Maryland followed suit on April 22, as its Student Entertainment Services organization said in a statement it would postpone May 6 and 7 screenings of the film after meeting with concerned student groups, adding it would seek “to possibly create an event where students can engage in constructive and moderated dialogues about the controversial topics proposed in the film.”
“SEE supports freedom of expression and hopes to create space for the airing of opposing viewpoints and differing perceptions,” the organization said. “In the event this opportunity develops, we encourage the University of Maryland campus citizens to join us in crafting this type of ongoing community dialogue. While not easy, we want to start having these hard conversations.”
Esiason, a West Islip native, set 17 school records in his three seasons quarterbacking Maryland. He went on to play 14 seasons in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals.
