Video: Arab comedian hits out at negative stereotyping of Muslims in films
Ahmed Ahmed started off by playing a terrorist in the movie 'Executive Decision'.
New York: Stereotypes in pop culture have been highly debated for the past several decades, be it black and Hispanic people in the US or people from different cultural backgrounds in Bollywod, there has always been rampant stereotypical portrayal of people in films.
In a time when Islamophobia is a grave issue, it’s important to address a prevalent culture of Middle Eastern or South East Asian actors being typecast as terrorists in Hollywood action flicks.
American actor turned comedian Ahmed Ahmed, who played a terrorist in many popular films, has sparked off a debate on this subject with a video telling how characters he was offered were never that of an Arab friend or an Arab doctor, but instead involved a fanatic killing in god’s name.
He mentions how “the phone stopped ringing” when he said no to any role where he would portray an Arab terrorist. He said that it’s dangerous how the negative impression of Muslims in pop culture is not a good sign for society.
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