Humorous ads for Muslim film go up in NYC subway stations

NEW YORK, N.Y. – A series of humorous ads promoting a film about Muslims are appearing in New York City subway stations five months after a federal judge ruled the ads should go up.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the subway system, had argued the ads for the 2013 film “The Muslims Are Coming!” violated its ban on political ads.

But the judge ruled in October that the ads were not primarily political. The ads started going up Monday.

The two comedians who directed the film and created the ad campaign said they are thrilled that subway riders can finally see the advertisements, which poke fun at negative stereotypes of Muslims.

“The narrative that’s generally out there is that Muslims are dusty people wandering in the desert wielding weapons,” said Negin Farsad. “We wanted to give at least one other image of Muslims.”

One ad reads “Those Terrorists Are All Muslim.” The word “Muslim” is crossed out and replaced with “Nutjobs.”

Another reads “Muslims hate terrorism! They also hate: People who tell you they went to an Ivy League school within 10 seconds of meeting them …”

An MTA spokesman said the authority disagrees with the judge’s ruling “but we have decided not to spend more of the public’s money appealing her decision.”

He said the ads have been revised to state more plainly that they are promoting the film.

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