pashnak Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-racist-menace-muslims-declare-victory-in-fight-over-antiislamic-lego-8555610.html The racist menace? Muslims declare victory in fight over ‘anti-Islamic’ Lego Danish toy giant agrees to cease production of ‘Jabba’s Palace’ building set in light of complaints Tony Paterson Berlin Sunday 31 March 2013 1 / 2 Austria’s Turkish community claimed a victory in its fight against Danish toy giant Lego yesterday after the firm agreed to withdraw a Star Wars toy set featuring a mosque-like building inhabited by an obese, hookah–smoking alien, following complaints that it was anti-Muslim. Lego added the “Jabba’s Palace” playset to its Star Wars collection in 2012. But in January this year the set started to provoke outrage in Austria’s Islamic community after a Muslim father found that his sister had given one to his son as a present. The game, which is aimed at children aged from nine to 14, features Jabba the Hutt in his intergalactic lair. Jabba, the slug-like villain who first appeared in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, lives in a domed, oriental-looking building equipped with rockets and machine guns. He also smokes a water pipe and keeps Princess Leia in chains for use as his personal slave. Furious Muslim critics complained that the Lego set’s Asian and oriental figures were “deceitful and criminal” characters such as gun-runners, slave masters and terrorists. “This sort of thing does not belong in a child’s bedroom,” said Melissa Gunes, a spokeswoman for Austria’s Turkish Cultural Association. Critics also claimed that the palace had an uncanny resemblance to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia mosque. “The game is pedagogical dynamite. It depicts Muslims as terrorists,” the TCA complained, adding that Jabba was shown to be a “terrorist who likes to smoke hookah and have his victims killed”. It appealed to Lego to withdraw the product immediately. Lego initially dug in its heels and refused the request. The company insisted the product was merely a faithful reproduction. “We see no reason to take it off the market, we have simply followed the film,” the company said. But yesterday it emerged it had backed down and agreed to end its production from 2014 onwards. The decision followed a meeting in Munich between Turkish community leaders and Lego executives. Birol Killic, the president of the TCA, said in a statement: “We are very grateful and congratulate Lego on the decision to take Jabba’s Palace out of production.” Lego was not available for comment yesterday. There was no explanation why the game was not scheduled for immediate withdrawal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryates Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Wow - and here I thought that whole thing was going to blow over. I find myself staring at this set at the toy store yet again last night - it may be time to pull the trigger. -Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pashnak Posted April 1, 2013 Author Share Posted April 1, 2013 Get 'em while they're legal http://www.amazon.co...64843903&sr=8-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick.black Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 What an absolute load of tosh. Sooner we find another inhabitable planet I'm off this rock. The planet earth has gone bonkers. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inglorious trooper Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 what a load of horse s***t!!!!!!!!!!! its a lego playset for gods sake,get a life!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Versku Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 I remember first reading about this awhile back and thought that common sense had prevailed. Utterly idiotic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigdane Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Aprils fool???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplehaze Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 WTF?, I'm with you Nick. They won't be happy until they get everything their own way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryates Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 This appears to be the Austrian Turkish Muslims (boy, that sounds odd) just trying to create more press. From the original NBC World News article: Lego posted on Twitter Monday that it has always intended to stop selling the item at the end of the year. We only keep a product in the assortment for a few years and it was scheduled to exit in 2013 from launch, the tweet said. ... The decision to terminate this particular product is not based on any dialogue with the mentioned community," Trangbk said. "We regret the misinterpretation but we fully stand behind the product. http://worldnews.nbc...group-says?lite -Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick.black Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Good for them. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pashnak Posted April 2, 2013 Author Share Posted April 2, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smally Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Just heard that play doh is sponsoring the Nazis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P3laton3 Posted April 2, 2013 Share Posted April 2, 2013 Just heard that play doh is sponsoring the Nazis! LOL and I bet they'll start complaining about ours DLT-19 soon once they'll see us trooping for Disney. I am gonna buy a bunch of those anyway, they might be a rarity one day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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