Lowe’s removed ads from reality show All American Muslim, but not without some strong feedback.
Russell Simmons has expressed serious concern about Lowe’s decision to pull its advertising from the TLC’s show “All-American Muslim,” according to NY Daily News.
He said about the situation: “This can’t happen in America; (Lowe’s) needs to fix this immediately.” He told Entertainment Weekly that the move was Islamophobic.
His comments were followed a day after Lowe’s stop advertising during the new reality show that shows the daily life of Muslim families in Michigan.
The complaints stemmed from the Florida Family Association, a Christian evangelical advocacy group.
After enlisting group members to email the show’s advertisters, the group posted on their website this statement:
“Clearly this program is attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show.”
Simmons warned the hardware franchise that he would be ready to fight against what he calls a stupid move for the company.
A Lowe’s spokesperson said, “We based our decision to pull the advertising on this research and after hearing the concerns we received through emails, calls, through social media and in news reports. It is certainly never Lowe’s intent to alienate anyone. Lowe’s values diversity of thought.
A TLC representative did not comment on Lowe’s decision but stated to Daily News, “We stand behind the show “All-American Muslim” and we’re happy the show has strong advertising support.”
Simmons told Entertainment Weekly, “This is a press nightmare for them. This country is built on religious freedom. This is the kind of hate that tears this country apart.”
All-American Muslim shows new episodes on Sunday 10/9 C.
