U of I Spokesperson Explains Why He Denied HBO's Request To Let Girls Film But Actually Says Nothing

Iowa Press-Citizen- University of Iowa’s Vice President of Strategic Communication Joe Brennan said this morning he made the decision to turn down HBO’s request to film “Girls” on the UI campus because, after reviewing the script, he felt the storyline would tarnish the reputation of the university.??“After reviewing the script, I felt the storyline placed the city and university in an unfavorable light, and considering the potential for disruption, I made the decision to deny the request,” Brennan said in a text. “I won’t share details as I don’t think it fair to reveal the plot in advance. I understand this is a popular show, but it’s my job to safeguard the reputation of the university.”

Oh well thanks for clearing that up, Joe.  Guess we can all just move on now and forget about it.  Except for the part where you never really explained why you turned them down.  The storyline placed the city and the university in an unfavorable light?  That’s a tad vague.  My acting career is hanging in the balance and we can’t even get straight answers.  Not to mention Iowa City is known for being the biggest party school in the world which means in terms of keeping the school in a favorable light you guys suck at it anyway.  And it’s not exactly like U of I President Sally Mason has been on fire with her comments on anything recently.  So why not let one of the most popular shows on TV come and film, get in the good graces of the student body, let a guy live his dream, boost the economy (people always say this in these situations even though I don’t know how it works), and distract people from the recent bad publicity?  Seems like a no brainer to me.  But nope, you’d rather skip out on that opportunity and then be cagey on your reasons why.  A+ on all accounts.

Reader E-mail:

here you go trent sign the petition.  YOU CAN MAKE A CHANGE!

 http://www.change.org/petitions/the-university-of-iowa-allow-for-hbo-to-film-their-series-girls-on-campus?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_mobile&recruiter=13960055

 -Michael

You’re damn right I’ll sign that petition, Michael!  Done and done.  Never signed anything so fast in my life.  If you stand for nothing, you fall for everything or something like that.

PS- Do petitions ever work?  No, right?  I always see people get all fired up about signing one and then nothing happens.  Well that’s neither here nor there.  I signed it anyway and now I expect the U of I to fold like a cheap suit, personally apologize to Lena Dunham and let them come film.