Russell Simmons Supports TLC’s All-American Muslim

lisaliving staff

Recently TLC aired a program called All-American Muslim that has been getting some backlash. The reality show follows five Muslim families living in Michigan, which has a large Middle Eastern population.

Since the broadcast, various opinions and perspectives have evolved, however the two main opposing views are based on one side that supports the show because it enlightens and creates cross-cultural understanding of Muslims and the other that believes it is a platform to promote Islamic beliefs and propaganda.

The Florida Family Association(FFA), a small conservative Christian group took up a campaign, encouraging Americans to send emails on their dislike of the show to Lowes. Lowes then caved to the pressure and decided to pull their advertising from the show.

Various organizations and celebrities are speaking out and are now calling for people to boycott Lowes. But one celebrity “putting his money where is mouth is”, is Russell Simmons, DEF Jam founder. He has dug into his own pockets to purchase advertising, twittering “Just purchased remaining spots for #allamericanmuslim for next week The show is now sold out! keep your money @lowes and we will keep ours.”

The FFA wished to get the show off the air, they may have done exactly the opposite. More Americans will now tune in to see what the outcry is all about, hence great ratings for TLC. The curiosity may also open Americans up to actually learning more than the stereotypes that have been taking centre stage since 911. Perhaps they will also learn just like there is a full range of Christians and their practices and beliefs that it is the same in the Muslim community.