The critical and commercial flop "The Lone Ranger" has a new problem!  Besides possibly costing Disney $150 million in losses, and adding a stink in Johnny Depp's career, the movie has a new foe according to The Huffington Post.

In the film, the big bad, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner) is described by Disney as "a ruthless outlaw whose terribly scarred face is a perfect reflection of the bottomless pit that passes for his soul."

Well, he appears to have a cleft lip and now, cleft lip organizations are offended.  If you're going to describe someone having a terribly scarred face which is ultimately a reflection of his "bottomless pit that passes for his soul," then that's a bit harsh.  

According to Executive Director Esteban Lasso of Transforming Faces, “I’ve met many children over the past 10 years who have been affected by cleft lip and palate –- they are resilient, strong and beautiful. But, I have also seen the physical as well as emotional scars that these individuals often carry. They are often bullied and taunted at school or depicted as villains. It’s disheartening that a major motion picture would perpetuate this negative perception and we hope that in future, birth defects and facial differences will not be used to portray ‘evil’ characters."

What do you think?  Is the new allegation fair?  

Here's the full article from Transforming Faces:

Transforming Faces was disheartened to see that Disney’s recent release, The Lone Ranger, features Butch Cavendish, a villain who was given an artificial cleft lip to appear more sinister.

“I’ve met many children over the past 10 years who have been affected by cleft lip and palate – they are resilient, strong and beautiful. But, I have also seen the physical as well as emotional scars that these individuals often carry.  They are often bullied and taunted at school or depicted as villains,” said Esteban Lasso, Executive Director of TF.

In 2012, Changing Faces, the UK’s leading disfigurement charity, commissioned a YouGov survey which found that bad teeth, scars, burns and other conditions affecting the face are viewed as the most common indicators of an evil or villainous character in a film. Changing Faces then launched Face Equality on Film, which encouraged a balanced portrayal of people with disfigurements in films.

“It’s disheartening that a major motion picture would perpetuate this negative perception and we hope that in future, birth defects and facial differences will not be used to portray ‘evil’ characters,” said Lasso.