Series will revolve around a Muslim family living in the US.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: As Senior Muslim/Asian/Middle Eastern/Foreign-looking/Brown Correspondent on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Aasif Mandvi has made a name for himself joking, and being serious too, about anti-Muslim biases in the United States.
Now, he wants to bring his repertoire of topical, often meta comedy to a wider audience; the actor and writer, who recently authored the book, “No Man’s Land,” just concluded a successful Indiegogo campaign to finalize post-production on his new web series about a Muslim family, called “Halal in the Family.”
The web series, starring Mandvi, is a parody of the classic American sitcom “All in the Family” and follows the lives of and an “all-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.”
In a message on the web series’ Indiegogo page, Mandvi wrote:
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!
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.
“In order to change the conversation about Muslims in American media we need a diverse, unified movement of people who are willing to take a stand against anti-Muslim bias,” Mandvi stated. “By fueling a portion of this project with donations from across the country we will demonstrate that thousands of people are fed up with the treatment of American Muslims.”