Terror-Tied CAIR Condemns Disney’s Aladdin “Racism” (Islam is not a race)

Aladdin is a centuries old story that has delighted children for generations. Attacking Disney is synonymous with attacking American culture, Western culture. No one should pay any mind to these terrorist groups like CAIR or the  jihad-aligned media advancing the goals. One commenter remarked, “CAIR better be careful, they are now messing with an organization more ruthless than their own.”

Related: Terror-tied Islamic Group Bullies Maryland Elementary School Into Cancelling School Production of Aladdin

CAIR Criticizes Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ Remake: ‘Racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia’

CAIR Criticizes Disney’s ‘Aladdin’ Remake: ‘Racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia’

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By Patrick Goodenough | May 22, 2019 |

(CNSNews.com) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is criticizing Disney’s live-action remake of Aladdin, saying that releasing the movie “during the Trump era” normalizes stereotyping.

Aladdin, due for release in the U.S. on Friday, is a family fantasy film telling the well-known story of a street urchin who falls in love with a princess, and is ordered by a grand vizier to fetch a magical lamp that summons a genie with the power to make wishes come true.

Turbans, swords and desert landscapes suggest a Middle Eastern or Central Asian setting. The movie was filmed in Jordan.

CAIR, which calls itself the nation’s biggest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, wants film reviewers “to address concerns about racial and religious stereotypes perpetuated by” the movie.

“The Aladdin myth is rooted by racism, Orientalism and Islamophobia,” CAIR executive director Nihad Awad said on Tuesday.

“To release it during the Trump era of rapidly rising anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and racist animus only serves to normalize stereotyping and to marginalize minority communities.”

“The overall setting, tone and character development in the ‘Aladdin’ story continues to promote stereotypes, resulting in a perpetuation of Islamophobic ideas and images,” Awad said.

“We urge the public and film critics to scrutinize the new production of ‘Aladdin’ in light of its historical context and today’s toxic environment for all minority communities.”

The Disney remake is an American movie directed by Englishman Guy Ritchie, but minorities dominate the cast.

Egyptian-born Canadian actor Mena Massoud has the title role and Will Smith stars as the genie. The other two major roles, those of Jasmine the princess and the vizier Jafar, are played by a British actress and Dutch actor with Indian and Tunisian family roots respectively. Iranian-born Americans star as Jasmine’s father and handmaiden.

“Not just me, but everybody in the film is diverse and every single person is a person of color and I think that’s incredibly important,” Massoud told the UAE daily The National earlier this month.

Costumes, head coverings, props and settings in the official trailers conjure up Bollywood more than Arabia – intentionally, according to Will Smith. (The fable of Aladdin has long been popular in India, where the new film is being released on Friday in English and three other major Indian languages.)

CAIR, however, says, “While the film is set in a fictional country, Agrabah, the location will clearly be perceived as Middle Eastern, Muslim or the ‘Orient,’ leading viewers to make the resulting associations with Muslim Arabs.”

CAIR also says the Aladdin story “has always been associated with depicting Arabs and Muslims as barbaric, uncivilized ‘others,’ following a long pattern of anti-Muslim attitudes in Hollywood.”

“The release of Aladdin coincides with ongoing Islamophobic content in mainstream entertainment media.”

Aladdin has stoked controversy before. After Disney released its popular animated version in 1992, critics took particular issue with a song lyric describing Agrabah as a place “where they’ll cut off your ear if they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric but hey, it’s home.”

After complaints, Disney changed the lines to, “where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense/ It’s barbaric but hey, it’s home.”

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which had challenged Disney about the lyric, called the change an improvement, but said that “problems remain.”

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France-HP-a-ciel-ouvert

4 years ago

Orientalism? We need bigger dictionaries for these terrorists.

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Tamara Hussey-Mecklenburg

4 years ago

Muslims, themselves, are already overwhelmingly at the forefront of creating animosity toward muslims by their own arrogant, rude, self absorbed, extremely disrespectful and violent behavior.

They’ve ruined their own reputations and continue to do so with these ridiculous, emotionally immature, narcissistic points of view.

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Dano50

4 years ago

I’ve read parts of 1001 Arabian nights, but never actually read Aladdin, (Which I believe is in there.)

But one story I did read was “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad.” and if the original Aladdin is anything like it, the modern day characters have been heavily sanitized.

Sinbad for instance, on his fourth voyage I think, gained wealth by marrying a rich woman in a foreign land. The problem was, when someone died the surviving spouse was sealed in a massive burial cave, with the family’s wealth and limited food supply.

Sinbad survived by stretching out his rations and fortunately – according to Sinbad himself – there was another funeral and the cave was opened up.

Instead of making a break for it, he waited until the cave was sealed up again, then killed the “Surviving Spouse” (And I think it was a woman.) stole her rations and loot, and then started exploring the cave

Eventually he found a way out, to a beach surrounded by insurmountable cliffs so, he decided his only hope was for a passing ship to rescue him.

While waiting for one, months I think, he’d occasionally go back into the burial cave, kill any sacrificial spouses, then take their rations and loot to the beach.

Idolizing someone like Sinbad explains a LOT about the culture that created him.

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Mischief Maker in the Land

4 years ago

Give the man his full name: Nihad Pantizin Awad.

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TD

4 years ago

Disney has a few SJW idiots like Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson,and Brie Larson.

Maybe we should just root for CAIR and Disney to take each other out while they bring down the Democrat party.

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Ari

4 years ago

Fairy tales should not be used in an inappropriate way. Obviously CAIR wants to politicize the story of Aladdin, which is not acceptable. A BBC TV news presenter

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Bonnie Pupowner

4 years ago

Movie hasn’t been a secret, talk about it for a long time

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SemurJengkolMaknyus

4 years ago

…as a place …where they swap their wives every weekend ….It’s animalistic ..but hey …it’s fun ..

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ed

4 years ago

Reply to  SemurJengkolMaknyus

Funny you mention the word “ANIMALISTIC”, semen, as you choose to swap what you lay down with at night, sheep, goats….any port in the storm, huh, semen ???

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patd

4 years ago

Again, more proof how ignorant the muslims are when they call muslims a race. But we will never be able to fix STUPID with libturds or muslims!

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Joan C.

4 years ago

Is there anything left, that they haven’t condemned??

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ed

4 years ago

Uh-oh….looks like they will put a fatwa out on Fresh Prince…..

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191njstatechamp

4 years ago

CAIR has gotten away with so much of this nonsense in the past, that they now believe in their own BULL.

Oh Oh.. Now Will Smith needs to worry about his safety?

These people are dangerous and nuts!

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John Acord

4 years ago

Let’s see if Iger gets rid of Aladdin as fast as he got rid of Roseanne Barr? I Doubt it,but I really don’t like to see anything that influences people in believing that Muslims are anything but savages, which is the only correct picture that should be projected.

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Halal Bacon

4 years ago

so a black man is doing “Blue-Face”?

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Laddyboy

4 years ago

“cair” and all of the “off-shoot groups” MUST be labeled a TERRORIST ‘hamas’ / ‘muslembrotherhood” TIED ORGANIZATION and MUST be BANNED from ALL functions on any American soil.

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Cauc-Asian Patriot

4 years ago

HEY! WE HAVE TO BE EVEN MORE SHARIA COMPLIANT IN THE USA UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP THAN THE HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN THAT ALLOWED THE MOVIE TO BE MADE THERE BUT DOESN’T EXTRADITE TERRORISTS SUPPORTED BY CAIR! WOW!

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