Representatives of the Pacific outpost of Easter Island are protesting an upcoming “Laverne and Shirley” reunion special. The protest is over a “tiki head” skit set against a backdrop of “four 18-foot Styrofoam replicas of the Easter Island statues […]” — a skit that is “offensive to the island’s 4,000 residents, members of the Rapa-Nui Chilean Assn.’s California chapter said.”

A “Laverne and Shirley” reunion special, mind you. That’s what we’re talking about here. That’s what they’re upset about.

‘We’d like to think this is the result of ignorance and stupidity,’ Easter Island native Miguel Angel Morales said as he and two others stood vigil with protest signs outside Paramount Studios, where the show was produced.

‘This is an invasion of native culture by Paramount Pictures. Shame on them. When they make movies about exotic locations they don’t care about the culture.’

Did I mention that what they’re upset about is a “Laverne and Shirley” reunion special? — y’know, 60-year old chicks in poodle skirts doing schtick?

[…] the protest was supported by one expert on the Easter Island statues. Jo Anne Van Tilburg, a UCLA archeologist who has spent years studying the island’s 887 statues, said the islanders need to take action now to prevent their sacred culture from being commercialized like ancient Hawaiian and Tahitian tikis have been over the last 50 years.

Uh, no offense, Doc — but if “Laverne and Shirley” is offensive to any “culture,” white service-sector workers should get first dibs on the outrage. I mean, Lenny and Squiggy? What the hell was that all about?

[Related: Eddie Mekka (Carmine “The Big Ragoo” Ragusa) files suit against ABC, claiming that network executives conspired to typecast him as a “spaghetti-eating moron” and “a silly, dancing Dago.”]