Fran Drescher-Narrated Audiobook Banned by National Association of the Deaf
It is not âthe best of timesâ for comedic actress and TV star Fran Drescher, most famous for her role as âFran Fine,â on CBSâ The Nanny, which ran on CBS from 1993â1999.The distinctively nasally voiced Drescher decided to self-produce and narrate an audiobook version of Charles Dickensâ A Tale of Two Cities, after being turned down by major producers and effectively blacklisted by SAG-AFTRA, The Screen Actors GuildâAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Artists.âI wanted to branch out,â said 56-year-old Drescher from her Hollywood Hills home. Â âIâve done comedy, Iâve done Broadway, Iâve done movies, and so one day I was joking around and I said to my producing partner âWouldnât it be funny if I narrated a book?â Â HAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa.Â  Then I started thinking about it and really decided to do it.Â  Crazy right?Â  HAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa,â she said.Christopher Wagner, President of the National Association of the Deaf, led the movement for a nationwide ban on the audiobook.Â  âApproximately .4 percent of the United States population is functionally deaf.Â  Thatâs roughly 1 million people.Â  For Godâs sake, isnât that enough?â Wagner asked.A petition, largely driven by social media, gathered over 6,000,000 electronic signatures in support of the ban within the first hour of itsÂ online launch.Â  âOur mailbox got flooded,â said Wagner, âand our server crashed.Â  I was afraid weâd never get our website up and running again.ââIt made me really sad because it was my favorite book growing up.Â  WAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa,â said Drescher, after hearing about the ban.Â  âPeople wouldnât necessarily think of me as a bookworm, but I really am. Â HAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa,â added Drescher.Â  âI love to read out loud.Â  I can do other voices besides âFran Fine.â Â She was a character, not a real person.Â  I have people whoâve lived around me for years who havenât gone deaf.Â  I can prove it.âEarly on in the project, Drescher contacted Audiobooks International Executive Vice President, Joseph Widden.Â  âI thought I was being punked,â he said.Â  âIt sounded like Fran Drescher on the phone, but I have a lot of friends who do voices.Â  Thatâs what I do.Â  I get to know people who do voices.Â  Then they do audiobooks.Â  I thought it was a joke.Â  I hung up the phone.Â  She called again.Â  I hung up again.Â  This went on for an hour.Â  She finally stopped.Â  The tape came out.Â  She did it herself.Â  Chris Wagner called. Â He got me on board.Â  Thatâs what I do.Â  I get on board.Â  I got on board.Â  I made some calls.Â  Thatâs what I do.Â  I called some people.Â  They owed me favors.Â  Thatâs what I do.Â  I call things in.Â  I called things in.Â  We got the ban.Â  So here we are.ââHe wouldnât take my call,â said Drescher.Â  âSo I did it myself.Â  Now I got a garage full of CDs.Â  What am I going to do, drive around the country putting up a card table?Â  What can I say?Â  You gotta have a sense of humor about this business.Â  HAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa.âDrescher says that she may donate the audiobooks to schools in developing countries, where itâs possible they arenât familiar with her voice.