This may not be timely, but it makes up for it in offensiveness. Watch this skit, MadTV’s idea of what English-language Al Jazeera is like. The skit is packed with racist stereotypes about the Middle East.
The only female reporter in the skit is a woman in niqab (presumably forced on her). She says, “My husband only allows me to say this: Death to America.” She is told to shut up by the other male) reporters. The “death to America” refrain is repeated ad nauseum by every person on screen. The reporters fail to report real news stories, and their comments, accents, and behavior are all a product of the image of the Middle East as homogeneous, backward, and hopeless. It’s interesting then to compare the actual Al Jazeera English, which is the third largest English-language 24-hour news network, after BBC World and CNN International.
Notice that the launch of the network shows both a male and female reporter. The woman is not wearing niqab. She speaks freely. It’s ridiculous that I have to point these out. Do Americans really think there are no female reporters in the Middle East? Do they think that Middle Eastern countries lack the ability to produce anything comparable to that of the United States?
Not all of MadTV’s work is so atrocious. One of its best-known skits presents the so-called Apple iRack and successfully makes fun of both Apple and the U.S. government’s involvement in Iraq (despite butchering the name of the country). Other skits poke fun at American medical shows. In these, it’s clear the writers have actually watched the shows and picked up on hints of truth to exaggerate for humorous effect. Can the offensiveness of the Al Jazeera skit be thus justified? It’s a parody, and parodies exaggerate. Not applicable. The reality of Al Jazeera is so far off from the portrayal that MadTV ends up looking idiotic. A parody cannot be effective if it is based on nothing real — unless the viewers don’t know any better, which is, sadly, probably the case. All the skit does is reinforce stereotypes about the Middle East and Al Jazeera, without satirizing the actual reality. Al Jazeera, like other networks, has its biases. But examining these would require the writers’ and viewers’ familiarity with the network — which is clearly lacking. So MadTV turns to old stereotypes.
Oh I want to throw up. This stuff is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO infuriating. I have seen similar types of jokes about Iraqi television during Saddam’s time, a time when women worked side by side with men and were highly involved in Iraqi society. Comedy has an important place in society. But when it is racist for the sake of being racist, such as in this clip, then it is a form of hate speech.
Oh dood I thought I was the only person that remembered that sketch.
That’s from ages ago, maybe 2000-ish but yeah it’s really gross. Madtv went through a really reactionary phase a while back, some of their other sketches at the time were just flat out racist.
For some reason though in the last year or two they’ve had a lot of sketches critiqing racial stereotypes. search for “nice white lady” on youtube.
Parody implies they took some aspects of the reality and added a twist to make it humorous. However, simply using the name of the network as a front for stereotypes, that’s not parody.
I’ve always found Al-Jazeera English to be one of my favorite news networks, although I don’t get it on my local cable and only see limited clips on YouTube and such… their range of coverage is good. I like the Everywoman segment (show?) — and that certainly does not fit in with the “My husband only allows me to say” ridiculousness.
Nadia,
Thanks for the tip. I watched the video and it’s hilarious.
Assalamu alaikom,
I watched this skit when it first aired… It was horrible. I was hopeful when it first came on. Madtv has declined steadily over the years but I’m an optimist. Yeah, it was dumber than dumb and not one bit funny because it had no basis in reality. I wondered if the writers could really be that uninformed.