Aasif Mandvi's new web series 'Halal in the Family' seeks to combat Islamophobia with comedy

posted on: Apr 13, 2015

WASHINGTON, DC: Aasif Mandvi’s new web series, “Halal in the Family,” is a parody of the classic American sitcom “All in the Family” and follows the lives of and an American Muslim family as they deal with different challenges faced by the Muslim community in the United States today, such as online bullying, hate networks, media bias, and “the use of anti-Muslim prejudice for political gain.With the series, Mandvi and producer Lillian LaSalle hope to tackle Islamaphobia using comedy as their not-so-blunt instrument.Said the series’ Indiegogo page:Halal in the Family will expose a broad audience to some of the realities of being Muslim in America. By using satire we will encourage people to reconsider their assumptions about Muslims, while providing a balm to those experiencing anti-Muslim bias. I also hope those Uncles and Aunties out there will crack a smile!In fact, “Halal in the Family” is partly funded by nonprofits.LaSalle told WNYC News she was originally approached by the group Muslim advocates, who wanted to fund the project in order to “do some social good.”“It opened up this idea of wow, there could be a bridge between creating funny content for a social issue that was important and that it could be supported by all of these organizations,” she said.Injections of capital also came from organizations such as the Ford Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy, the Pillars Fund and the National Network for Arab American Communities.Mandvi explained that there was some friction between the nonprofits and his creative team, such as the former wanting to see scripts before filming began, but he eventually managed to get them on board so that he could fulfill his vision unfettered.Americans’ opinions of Muslims have plummeted over the past decade. According to the Arab American Institute, only 27 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Muslims, while 42 percent believed police are justified in using racial profiling to target Arab Americans and American Muslims. Per FBI data, over the last few years, anti-Muslim crimes have made up about 13 or 14 percent of all hate crimes perpetrated in the U.S.

Source: www.americanbazaaronline.com