New York City's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will be forced to allow advertisement promoting a documentary about American Muslim comedians, after a federal judge ruled it was improperly labeled “political” in nature.
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"We're very pleased," said Glenn Katon, a lawyer for Vaguely Qualified, was quoted by Reuters on Wednesday, October 7.
"Just because you have something comedic that refers to 'Muslims' or 'Islam' doesn't make the subject matter controversial or political. The judge got that."
The lawyer was hailing the long-awaited victory for the filmmakers of "The Muslims Are Coming!" film that has been banned since last April.
Defeating MTA, US District Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan said that ad, which mocks prejudice and Islamophobia, is not prominently political.
The ad has been place in the subway to counter another anti-Muslim ad camping by the Islamophobic American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and its leader anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller’s.
Earlier this year, an anti-Muslim ad campaign that falsely links Islam to Nazism has been widely condemned by San Francisco officials as "racist" and "Islamophobic.
Launched by the AFDI the bus ads show Adolf Hitler meeting with Palestinian grand mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, and the words: “Islamic Jew¬Hatred: It’s in the Qur’an.”
Geller, who has bragged online that she uses a Qur’an as a doorstop, was the subject of a CAIR "Islamophobe profile" documenting the individuals and organizations involved in spreading anti-Muslim bias in the United States.
CAIR also listed her as a member of the "inner core" of those promoting anti-Muslim bigotry.
Produced by Vaguely Qualified Productions LLC's ads, the ad contains statements such as "The Ugly Truth About Muslims:
Muslims have great frittata recipes" and "Those Terrorists Are All Nutjobs," with "nutjobs" replacing the crossed off "Muslim" to be "more accurate."
Co-produced by filmmakers Negin Farsad and Dean Obeidallah, the film features commentary from people like Lewis Black, Rachel Maddow, Russell Simmons and Jon Stewart.
“An arbitrary conclusion by some official at the MTA, untethered to any articulated or articulable standard, that an advertisement including the word 'Muslims' is 'political,' is utterly unreasonable," McMahon wrote.
"Indeed," she added, "the evidence before the court plainly indicates that VQP's silly advertisements were subject to greater scrutiny than other potentially controversial ads."
Last July, a galaxy of American Muslim comedians organized the first-ever Muslim stand-up comedy festival in New York to give insights into the thriving Muslim comedy.
Titled “Muslim Funny Fest”, the first Muslim comedy festival featured 10 Muslim comedians who told Jokes about ISIL, Islamophobia and other issues.
Since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, many Muslims have complained of facing discrimination and stereotypes in the society because of their Islamic attires or identities.
A US survey has revealed that the majority of Americans know very little about Muslims and their faith. A recent survey found that American Muslims are the most moderate around the world.
It also showed that US Muslims generally express strong commitment to their faith and tend not to see an inherent conflict between being devout and living in a modern society.
