Ah yes the infamous "retard" debate... People are just too sensitive some times. If you look at what he was trying to explain it makes sense to use the word retard. IMO retard was used as a word to describe a social label for a disability. The character in the movie points out that as an actor to truely capture an audience you have to play the person affected by the disability, not just the disability. He points out that there is still a human being behind the diagnosis and that you should focus on that.
In reality you have to dig pretty deep to get that from his speech and honestly I thought it was a little offensive, but my shock factor was already turned off after the very first commercial for Booty Sweat...
