The Metro newspaper, many social media users and the Muslim Council of Britain appear to have fallen for a satirical campaign by Muslims against the cartoon character Peppa Pig.
In a recent article Metro reported that “a small group of people are mounting an online campaign to have the animated farm animal booted off television screens. Why? Well, according to campaigners, the cartoon character is an ‘insult to Islam’.”
The article added: “A Facebook page ‘Muslims against Peppa Pig’ already has nearly 2.500 followers after being created on August 23, just two weeks ago.”
The Metro article seems to have been in response to a satirical video by Bradford resident Zayn Sheikh who said: “I go downstairs and I see on the TV … I see the haraamest thing I’ve ever seen during daylight, it was this (Peppa Pig)…
“For us Muslims it is very important that we do not eat meat of the pork. It is completely wrong that our kids are being shown these things on TV.”
Mr Sheikh then went onto propose replacing the pig with an “Abdullah the Cat” cartoon.
But he later released a video saying that the original video was a hoax and his comments were intended as satire.
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“I am not against any race, religion or ethnicity. I speak out against discrimination wherever I come across it. At the end of the day whatever is going on in the rest of the world is not to do with us regular Muslims in the UK because we are just like any other people.”
Reaction
However, the Muslim Council of Britain – the UK’s largest Muslim umbrella group – still deemed it a proper matter to comment on.
A spokesperson for The MCB said: “The majority of mainstream Muslims would not find Peppa Pig offensive, and anecdotally we know of many Muslim children who watch the show for its entertainment value. Those who do have issues with this can simply refrain from watching the show and purchasing Peppa Pig memorabilia.”
Meanwhile, social media has been abuzz with the controversy with many Islamophobes using it as an opportunity to bash Muslims. Others, however, seemed to have their heads screwed on the right way. See the tweets below…
