Netflix DisRespects with Disjointed

By Medicinal Michael Boris

IG: @medicinal_mike

Twitter: @medicinal_mike

Netflix is one of the most popular movie databases in the United States with thousands of titles to keep an individual occupied for hours on end. Netflix has recently attempted with the help of writer Chuck Lorre of “Two and a Half Men” and “Big Bang Theory” to create a cannabis-themed sitcom with the help of cannabis consultant and activist “Dr.” Dina Browner.

They created a sitcom-style show called Disjointed starring Kathy Bates. Kathy has starred in countless masterpieces including Misery and American Horror Story. If anyone can make a show stand out, it is Kathy Bates. Then why has this show upset the cannabis community and been called for boycott?

Disjointed has been called Disrespectful due to its insensitive parody of our strong community leaders who have risked their personal freedoms to help educate and legalize the cannabis plant. The show parodies without permission many of our leaders and friends, showing they are no friend to the cannabis community.

Our community is not mainstream so no matter how “famous” we get in the cannabis community we are unknowns to the mainstream world. Disjointed decided to parody our most loved community hero, Jack Herer. Jack Herer, besides having a very famous cannabis strain named after him, has also spent his life trying to educate on the benefits of cannabis and hemp.

Members of the Disjointed staff with no Herer family permission had decided to “spoof” on the funeral of Jack Herer with their character Jack Heron under the guise of honoring Jack’s memory. Their depiction of Jack Heron was also as a community leader but adding that he is a chronic adulterer with many woman speaking out at his funeral with an insensitive apology to the wife of the character while everyone laughs and makes jokes.
Jack’s real-life widow Jeannie Herer is a cannabis lifetime achiever and recognized as so at many events and in our world for her work in the cannabis industry. Jeannie was shocked in her viewing of this episode stating to me that nobody called her informing her of any “honoring,” as the staff has described. Jeannie also stated to Mrs. Dina Browner, “I felt your show was disrespectful, I didn’t trash it. Then I saw you made a comment that I was praising and complimenting the show.”

Jeannie whom is depicted by Netflix as the absentee wife is incredibly Disappointed. She said to us, “I really expected to like the show and binge watch. I had no idea the sixth episode was about Jack’s funeral until I saw it. I was not impressed.”

Netflix depicted Jeannie as a wife oblivious to her husband’s many, many, affairs as claimed by the Disjointed writer Chuck Lorre. Jeannie also stated that she had never received an invitation to the taping but that Jack’s son, Dan Herer who is also an incredibly respected full-time cannabis activist was at the viewing.

Dan Herer made time for me when I asked him in Disbelief whether he was as thrilled with the honoring of his father Jack Herer as the staff of Disjointed claimed he was.

Dan wanted to clear up immediately as to what the staff of the Netflix show was claiming as opposed to the truth. Because how we are introduced to the “real world” really does matter when we risk our freedoms to help others.

Dan said “The show has funny moments and the actors were tremendous, but it missed its mark by a mile. They had a chance to do something intelligent, but that’s not what I saw. They called me the day before taping and said “We are honoring your dad and would like you to be there. You can meet Kathy Bates and give her a copy of your father’s book.””

Dan was never introduced to the legendary actress Kathy Bates, but he did leave with “Misery.”

Dan also stated, “They did not ask for any permissions. They did a Disservice to everyone who has spent their lives to change the understanding of cannabis, and they are far from dignified. He was not thrilled at all with the “honoring” they claimed. Stating that he, in fact, was Disjointed as to how they treated his father’s legacy.

“They had good intention but really missed the mark by miles,” Dan told us. Also stating that they used the exact words he spoke from his fathers funeral and made a mockery of it.

In their second season they “honored” another cannabis icon Steve DeAngelo depicted as “Angelo DeStevens” The fake ponytail, balding, corporate weed, money mongering weasel who convinces one character to “sell out” her friends for pot. I have been told by many that Mr. DeAngelo is furious but was unable to reach him for direct comments. Dan Herer wanted everyone to know “I have met Steve DeAngelo and he is nothing but a respectful businessman and nothing but gracious.”

“Dr.” Dina Browner, the show’s cannabis consultant, claims she had nothing to do with the storylines and knew nothing about them till she saw the taping.

Browner defended the storylines and thoughts of the staff before the tapings:
“That was a message to the industry that nobody apparently got. We did that scene to remind our industry not to forget our industry elders. To pay homage to Jack. To remind us to stay strong and band together because the world is against us. So it is ironic that I am having to defend it. Haters gonna hate, I get it. This is the first show done by actual stoners, and we used it to make an incredible commercial for the Gridiron Cannabis Coalition. People keep looking for the negatives instead of the positives.”

We are a small community who risk our lives and our families; we risk our freedom and our right to make decisions based on our lifestyles and how to improve them, as we fight our way through prohibition over the past eighty years. Our heroes are heroes because they at some point in their lives stood up against tyranny and said “Stop this is wrong! Cannabis can save our lives!” These members of the community who are legends to us all, have impacted the movement in some form or another, and have never been introduced to the mainstream world. To sully their image by portraying them as unintelligent, unfaithful, jokes of society is wrong. You can be funny in a show about cannabis prohibition but to take stabs at actual members who had to work so hard so that you have the platform to spit on their legacy is Dishonorable. I, and many more stand for a multitude of causes but we will not stand for this!

Shame on you Netflix.