‘Provocative’ Borat ads featuring 'Allah ring' spark outrage among Muslims in Paris

‘Provocative’ Borat ads featuring 'Allah ring' spark outrage among Muslims in Paris
In a video posted on Twitter, one bus driver slammed the poster as 'unbelievable' and offensive, as tensions between France and the global Muslim community remain high.
2 min read
07 November, 2020
The billboards were a promotion for the Jewish actor's latest film [Getty]
A number of 'disrespectful' 'Borat 2' film posters have been taken off buses across Paris after sparking anger from the local Muslim community.

The ad plastered on buses in the French capital featured a semi-naked Sacha Baron Cohen in a 'mankini' while wearing a ring with the word "Allah" written on it in Arabic.

The billboards were a promotion for the British actor's latest film, and come at a time of rising tensions among the French government and the global Muslim community.

The posters have been slammed as "provocative" and "lacking respect" for Islam, according to the French publication Le Parisien

One bus driver on Twitter posted a video calling the poster "unbelievable" and offensive, vowing to remove it. 

Other drivers have shared the video in solidarity, according to Le Parisien.

Bus Drivers in Paris, many of whom are Muslim, have appealed to the city's transport authority to remove the poster. 

Buses under the TICE transport network, which operates in a largely-Muslim area, took down the adverts, while Paris' main transport network RATP refused to follow suit.

The state-owned public transport operator told The Times it would “under no circumstances take this campaign off our network".

The upset over the image comes at a time of sky-high tensions in France between the state - which argues that mocking religion is part of freedom of speech - and Muslims both in France and abroad, after offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad were republished in the country.

Protests and calls for boycotting French products were quickly sparked across much of the Muslim world, especially after French President Emmanuel Macron defended the publishing of the caricutures.

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