GagWatch

A Japanese publisher has been forced to suspend sales (via) of a series of comics, and the related DVD series, after Muslims decided to take offence. At issue is a 90 second scene in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in which, Dio Brando, a villain, picks up a copy of the Koran as he orders the execution of the hero and his friends.

After a viewer posted negative comments and the still scene on a web forum, others started jumping on the bandwagon until Sheikh Abdul Hamid Attrash, chairman of the Fatwa Committee at Al-Azha in Cairo, decided to step in and call the cartoon an insult to Islam.

‘‘This scene depicts Muslims as terrorists, which is not true at all,’’ he said. ‘‘This is an insult to the religion and the producers would be considered to be enemies of Islam.’’

According to Shueisha, the publisher, the scene was ‘‘a simple mistake.’’

‘‘Neither the original comic nor the animation intends to treat Muslims as villains. But as a result, the cartoon offended Muslims.’’ said the official. ‘‘We apologize for the unpleasantness that the cartoon may have caused and will carefully consider how to deal with religious and culture themes.’’

The official said one of animators came up with the idea of using an Arabic book in order to give the scene a more authentic feel as the villain was hiding out in Egypt.

With that in mind he went to the library and found a book, which turned out to be the Quran and inserted it. No one realized the mistake as no one could read or speak Arabic, the official said.

Of context and apologies are irrelevant in the face of an opportunity to be offended and there have been calls to boycott Japanese products.

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