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Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by Allan on Fri Jun 26 12:01:19 2015

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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/comedians-suing-mta-tanking-anti-islamophobia-ads-article-1.2271769 [See link for the ads referred to in the article]

"Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign
BY Dan Rivoli
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, June 25, 2015, 8:13 PM

The ads were to promote the pair's documentary 'Beware: The Muslims Are Coming!' Vaguely Qualified Productions
The ads were to promote the pair's documentary 'Beware: The Muslims Are Coming!'

What’s so political about funny Muslims?

That’s what a culturally conscious comedy duo is asking the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

The First Amendment federal suit accuses the MTA of tanking the team’s ad campaign right before their posters lampooning Islamophobia were due to hit subway stations April 28. A day later, the MTA banned political viewpoint ads.

To comedians Dean Obeidallah and Negin Farsad, the MTA showed no sense of humor in rejecting their jokes about Muslims’ awesome frittata recipes or silly Muslim “facts.”

“One of our posters says that grown up Muslims can do more push-ups than baby Muslims. I dare you to find the political nature of that ridiculous statement,” Farsad said. “It’s funny, it’s comedic.”

To promote their documentary, “Beware: The Muslims Are Coming,” the pair landed a contract with the MTA to plant 144 posters in 140 subway stations for about a month.

The movie, now playing on major streaming services, tracks Obeidallah’s and Farsad’s exploits in helping Middle America understand Muslims through humor. The film features interviews with big-name comedians, including Jon Stewart and Janeane Garofalo.

The campaign to promote the film, produced by Vaguely Qualified Productions, cost $15,000, plus $4,000 to print the ads.

But subway riders never got the chance to laugh.

The MTA got out of the political ad game, burned after losing a lawsuit over its effort to keep a controversial ad from anti-Islamic firebrand Pamela Geller off buses.

The policy bans paid political messages regarding “disputed economic, political, moral, religious or social issues.”

Obeidallah and Farsad’s ads fell victim to the new policy. Their lawyer contends the posters are halal, even under the new rules.
The ads featured a series of humorous 'facts' about Muslims.
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Muslim comedians, Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah, suing MTA over rejected film promotions for their film "Beware The Muslims are Coming!"
Muslim comedians, Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah, suing MTA over rejected film promotions for their film "Beware The Muslims are Coming!"

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Vaguely Qualified Productions
The ads featured a series of humorous 'facts' about Muslims.

“You can’t dispute comedy and you can’t dispute the underlying message, which is Muslims are human beings, some of whom have a sense of humor,” said Glenn Katon of Muslim Advocates, a legal and educational group. “That’s why we think the MTA got the decision so wrong.”

Adam Lisberg, an MTA spokesman, said the agency had yet to be served.

In court documents tied to a separate challenge to the new policy, MTA real estate director Jeffrey Rosen said the documentary promos got spiked because they were a response to Geller’s Islamophobic ads.

Obeidallah rejected that reason, saying anti-Muslim prejudice is a problem that’s bigger than Geller.

“We didn’t make the movie because of Pam Geller,” he said. “We made the movie to tell our story.”
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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Jun 26 12:54:25 2015, in response to Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by Allan on Fri Jun 26 12:01:19 2015.

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Dean Obeidellah is not a comedian. He's an unfunny anti-semite. That being said, even scumbags like him have 1st Amendment tights.

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(1357469)

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Jun 26 13:00:43 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Jun 26 12:54:25 2015.

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And rights. DERP

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 14:11:38 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Jun 26 12:54:25 2015.

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From the name it sounds like he is of arabic background and if that is the case, how can he be an Anti-Semite since Arabs are ethnically Semites?

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(1357489)

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by Spider-Pig on Fri Jun 26 15:22:40 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 14:11:38 2015.

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Because “anti-semite” means “anti-Jew.” It has nothing to do with anything else.

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(1357506)

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 17:53:32 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by Spider-Pig on Fri Jun 26 15:22:40 2015.

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I know it is popularly meant to signify “anti-Jew” but the term is still inaccurate since many anti-Jews such as Arabs are also ethnically semites.

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(1357519)

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by The silence on Fri Jun 26 19:41:05 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 17:53:32 2015.

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Marriage "equality" is also a misnomer, but that doesn't stop people...

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by Spider-Pig on Fri Jun 26 20:50:21 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 17:53:32 2015.

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Anti-semites have never been the most logical people.

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by SLRT on Tue Jun 30 14:58:24 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Fri Jun 26 13:00:43 2015.

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"First Amendment Tights" is funnier. Reminds me of Monty Python.

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(1358039)

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Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign

Posted by SLRT on Tue Jun 30 15:02:26 2015, in response to Re: Comedy duo suing MTA for scrapping their anti-Islamophobia subway ad campaign, posted by randyo on Fri Jun 26 17:53:32 2015.

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That is an argument I have heard from Arab supporters, but it is a Red Herring. "Anti-Semite" is an introduced term by 19th-Century German Jew-haters to distinguish their hatred of Jews as a "racial" group from Jews as a religious group.

It has nothing whatever to do with Arabs, except philologically.

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