By Greg Szymanski

A recent FOX Television skit on MAD TV has overstepped the bounds of human decency in the guise of comedy, depicting Persian women and their offspring as "whores and monkeys," according to Bahram Maskanian, of a New York community peace and human rights group trying to instill a better relations between the Middle East and the West.

FOX TV executives issued a statement Monday to the Arctic Beacon, saying their intent was "to make people laugh" but Maskarian said "nobody in the Muslin community was laughing."

In a "cloaked effort" to debase, dehumanize and demean a historically great nation and people, Maskanian strongly objected to the skit broadcast nationally Saturday night, saying it was "totally unacceptable" to portray "Persian women as "whores, apes and monkeys on a national television network" even in the guise of comedy.

 "Since 1978, I have been living in the U.S. I have had many unpleasant racist experiences to say the least, but no one ever portrayed Iranian / Persian women on American National television,

many times over as apes / monkeys," said Maskanian of Persian descent, whose peace group is called Circles of Unity and Engagement - Ethics in Action Community.

 "As if the barbaric Islam dehumanizing Persian / Iranian women was not enough to deal with, but now our mothers, sisters, wives and daughters are been portrayed as whores and apes / monkeys, that makes us the Persian / Iranian men sons of whores and apes / monkeys. Iranians / Persians who have given birth to civilization with a longest and the richest history on Earth, extending to twelve

(12,000) thousands years and eight (8,000) thousands years of written history of philosophy, sciences, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, languages, poetry and more are now reduced to whores and apes / monkeys. Shame on all of us, Iranians / Persians, to allow this to be and happen."

Regarding the specifics of the skit that aired as a repeat fromseveral months ago and the pending threat of nuclear war in Iran, Maskanian was "appalled" by the demeaning references to his people,

as well as saying this type of portrayal actually dehumanizes Persians in the eyes of the viewers, making it easier to justify going to war against people who are depicted as less than human.

Here is what Maskanian wrote about the specifics of the FOX television skit:

"A few months ago I had a talk with an American friend who had seen a supposed comedy show aired on Saturday nights on FOX television, called MAD TV. He told me about this shocking and highly insulting sketch they did called the Persian Tow Truck Driver.

"Michael McDonald plays the role of the truck driver. He is a chain smoker, has a thick reddish-brown mustache and is talking to Ike Barinholtz, another actor to whom he shows a picture of an orangutan as his Persian wife.

"As we all know, orangutans are large apes or monkeys, who live in South East Asia on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These apes mostly live on treetops. They are arboreal and swing from branch to branch using their arms. Orangutans have a large, bulky body, covered with long reddish-brown hair, a thick neck, very long, strong arms, short, bowed legs, and no tail. Orangutans are about 2/3 the size of the gorilla just to give an idea how Iranian /Persian women are portrayed on FOX Television and MAD TV and their show writers, producers and sponsors.

"Through the course of the sketch Michael McDonald, the Persian Tow Truck Driver, is talking to Ike Barinholtz, while smoking cigarettes. He establishes as facts that all through his life he had sex with his Persian wife only twice 2, but he has fifteen 15 children. As camera pans into the nursery, McDonald pointsout a little monkey in the nursery to Barinholtz , as his newly born daughterlooks just like her mother.

"A few seconds later the little monkey is brought out of the nursery and handed over to McDonald.. The little monkey crawled out of the white towel it was wrapped in and began running over the shoulders of the two men. I might add there were many other highly insulting comments designed deliberately to dehumanize a nation, very insulting comments made in a few troubling and painful minutes."

Maskanian wanted the biography and facts about MAD TV made public, as well as the email, in order that people can voice objections to the program and stop any future airings of what he called a hate-filled comedy sketch that doesn't promote better human relations during a period of crisis betwen the Middle East and the West.

About MAD TV

MAD TV is a late night sketch comedy television show. It premiered in 1995 and, over the years, has become famous for its sharp parodies of film, television and music.

MAD has featured hundreds of guest stars and musical acts including: Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Jack Black, Dennis Hopper, David Alan Grier, Halle Berry, George Carlin, Seth Green, Martin Short, Jackie Chan, Snoop Dogg, No Doubt, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Drew Barrymore, Jon Heder, Ludacris, Nicole Richie, Alanis Morrisette, Avril Lavigne, Nelly, Ryan Reynolds, Don Cheadle, Outkast and Green Day -- to name only a few.

During its 10 seasons, MADtv has created a variety of original characters including: Ms. Swan, Stuart, Lorraine, Dot, Trina, UBS Guy and Bunifa, among several others.

MAD's cast has evolved and changed since its first season. It has featured over 30 full-time cast members, many of whom have gone on to star in film, television and radio. Current full-time cast members include: Bobby Lee, Arden Myrin, Daniele Gaither, Frank Caliendo, Ike Barinholtz, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key, Michael McDonald, Nicole Parker and Stephnie Weir.

MAD has been nominated for a number of awards over the past 10 seasons and has won Emmys for the accomplishments of both its Hair and Wardrobe departments.

Currently, MAD airs Saturday nights on FOX. It can also been seen six days a week on Comedy Central.

Mad TV - info@madtv.com

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Greg Szymanski

Listen to my Radio Broadcast live Monday night at 8pm Pacific time on LewisNews, returning Jan. 1 2006 Radio http://webs.lewisnews.com/radio/index.html. Greg is also regular on Rense.com the first Thursday of every month at 9pm pacific time.

Greg also has his own daily show on the Republic Broadcast Network. Go to www.rbnlive.com and will be starting a daily program on the Genesis Communications Network soon at www.gcnlive.com Greg Szymanski is an independent investigative journalist and his articles can been seen at www.LewisNews.com. He also writes for American Free Press and has his own site www.arcticbeacon.com