Entertainment
BRITISH public broadcaster the BBC is coming
under fire after a TV skit portraying the ‘Real
Housewives of ISIS’ debuted online this week.
The skit, part of new BBC2 sketch show
Revolting, imagines a Syrian outpost to the Real
Housewives franchise with women who’ve
moved over from the UK to join the Islamic
State, and is littered with controversial jokes
about suicide vests and beheadings.
“This is my sixth marriage — I’ve been widowed
five times,” Housewife ‘Zaynab’ tells the camera
as a bomb blast rings out.
“ ... Six times.”
Another Housewife shows off her brand new
explosive-packed suicide vest to her friends, one
of whom posts a picture to Instagram:
“Hashtag OMG, hashtag Jihadi Jane, hashtag
death to the West, ISIS emojis!”
“Ali bought me a new chain which is eight foot
long,” says another Housewife, as we see her
struggling against a heavy chain attaching her
to her stove.
“I can almost get outside, which is great.”
The two-minute clip has been viewed more than
10 million times and shared more than 200,000
times since being posted to the BBC2 Facebook
page yesterday.
While some viewers welcomed the very
politically incorrect humour on show, others felt
the sketch unfairly mocked women living in fear
under ISIS.
Read interesting Short stories @ deevidence.blogspot.com
In an interview with I News , the show’s creators
Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein defended
the skit against its critics.
“It’s important not to pull your punches in
satire. You have to be fearless or it undermines
your credibility. You can’t go after David
Cameron for five years like we did and not go
after Islamic State,” said Prowse (the pair’s
previous TV show, The Revolution Will Be
Televised, consisted of satirical pranks and
sketches highlighting conservative greed).
“The target is online grooming,” said Rubinstein.
“It’s about people who are vulnerable to these
kind of approaches. We’ve had the ‘White
Widow’ (British-born terror suspect Samantha
Lewthwaite) so this is actually happening to
women here.”
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