‘Amish Mafia’ Season 4 News: Pennsylvania Governor Officially Joins ‘Respect Amish’ Movement And Requests That Show No Longer Produce Episodes In Lancaster [VIDEO]
Perhaps the biggest force against Discovery's Amish Mafia has officially begun to push against the show, as now even government officials are starting to speak out against the violent and controversial series.
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Joining Lancaster residents, business owners, and religious groups, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett has joined a group of 19 additional politicians to call for the production and broadcast of Amish Mafia to stop.
A statement (via Penn Live) made by the politicians calls the series "bigoted" and an "affront to all people of faith and all secular people with normal principles," and encouraged a more vocal opposition to the way the Amish community is portrayed on the show.
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"By misrepresenting the Amish as a crime-ridden culture, the show gives, by association, the same impression of Lancaster County," the statement reads. "It changes the image of the county from one of pastoral beauty, where people are devoted to faith, family and friends, to one of banal ugliness."
The show has been encountering an increased backlash since the Respect Amish movement started up in June, after local filmmaker Mary Haverstick felt the show was exhibiting racism towards the peaceful people who have helped characterize the area where they live.
In an interview with a local news station when she started the movement in mid-June, Haverstick explained that she felt the often violent acts depicted on the show exhibited an extreme form of bigotry that was putting a negative spin on the group's strictly religious lifestyle.
"You can't put shows on like this about Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Evangelical [people]...It's just plain wrong," she said at the time. "I mean, you just can't do it and it would be seen for what it is, which is bigoted. It is bigoted and prejudice."
The movement garnered the additional support of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau and Lancaster County Council of Churches.
The growing movement and increased backlash also resulted in an appearance by Beiler, Lebanon Levi Stoltzfus and Merlin Miller at a Lancaster barnstormers baseball game in early July to be cancelled, which Beiler responded to on his Facebook page.
"I regret to inform everyone that the cast from Amish Mafia will not be attending the Barnstormers game this Friday night. We were looking forward to coming together to make the night not about us but to raise money for the charity Children Deserve a Chance," he wrote at the time. "Unfortunately us making an appearance for a good cause upset some people in the community and they lashed out...People should see the good in others and the good things they are trying to do. I think then the world would be a better and much happier place. God bless you all. Sorry again."
The show has not been confirmed for a season four return by Discovery, and has reportedly been on a hiatus since February 26 after the cast reportedly revolted against film crews.
