'The Muslims are coming!' Court allows comic advert on New York subway
Source: Associated Press
'The Muslims are coming!' Court allows comic advert on New York subway
Associated Press
Thursday 8 October 2015 03.03 BST
A federal judge has given a the go-ahead to light-hearted subway advertisements promoting a documentary about American Muslim comedians, saying a transportation agency improperly labeled them political in nature.
The ads for the film The Muslims Are Coming! were rejected this year by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway system and the rest of the nations largest mass transit network. The MTA, which had first approved the ads, later concluded they violated its new ban on political ads.
Judge Colleen McMahon said the advertisements, created by two Muslim comedians, were not primarily political.
That the advertisements at issue gently mock prejudice and employ Islamophobia as a comedic device does not make their message prominently or predominantly political, she wrote.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
The ads were being placed in the subway system in part to counter a campaign by an organization seeking to display ads critical of Muslims, the judge noted.
[font size=1]
-snip-[/font]
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/08/the-muslims-are-coming-court-allows-comic-advert-on-new-york-subway