Readers of Parsi Khabar might remember that we had broken the story of the video featuring Snoop Dogg and Amitis, that had questionable and disrespectful use of the Farohar in it. The story then got picked up by various news agencies and someone in Kolkatta filed a public interest litigation in the High Court against the two artists. That brought the issue to the attention of Youtube and they have withdrawn the video from all their sites.
The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Kolkata has forced YouTube to withdraw a music video, which it feels is blasphemous and shows disrespect to the `Faravahar’, a symbol held sacred by Parsi Zoroastrians. The video stars Amitis Moghaddam and Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, popularly known as Snoop Dogg.
Article by Jayanta Gupta | Times of India
YouTube took the decision after Association president Darayas Jamshed Bapooji filed a PIL in Calcutta high court and served notice to the website. Bapooji and other members of the community now want the Centre to ban the video and take steps to protect the religious rights of a `microscopic minority’ such as the Parsi Zoroastrians.
“We found that the content in question has already been removed from the site. It may take some time for video search results and thumbnail images to disappear from the site but typically , this does not take more than a couple of days. Please be patient, as we assure you that the content has been removed,“ YouTube’s legal support team wrote back after receiving the legal notice. Incidentally , TOI was the first to publish the article online after the PIL was filed.Thereafter, the matter was taken up by the international media.
“Not only does the video feature stripper poles and skimpily clad women smoking hookah in front of the Faravahar but also stars Snoop Dogg sitting on a throne underneath it. The respon dents were well aware of the Faravahar and the religious sentiments that the Parsi Zoroastrians attach with it as Am itis Moghaddam is of Iranian decedent Amitis Moghaddam was born in Mash ad, Iran, but is now based in Atlanta, US Ironically , Amitis Moghaddam has been named after the princess who mar ried the great Parsi Zoroastrian King `Cyrus the Great’. Yet, intentionally they produced and published the video with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging and insulting the religious feelings of the community . The video is insensitive towards the religious beliefs of one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world,“ Edulji has submitted in the petition.
According to the petitioner, semi clad girls dance on Persian carpets smoking water pipes while Moghaddam sits on a throne, caressing her Persian cat. “I am feeling hot,“ she says in a Persian accent. The table in front is covered in Iranian cashmere and behind her hangs a large Faravahar, the religious symbol of the Zoroastrianism. All this has been submitted in the petition.
“The wrong use of religious and sacred symbols and iconography hurts, insults and outrages the religious sentiments and beliefs of Parsi Zoroastrians.The lyrics of the song have nothing to do with Zoroastrianism. The Faravahar should be revered and respected as the Christian cross, Allah, the Star of David and Om, the religious symbols of all religions. All over the world, people respect religious symbols. The Faravahar, a sacred symbol for the Parsi Zoroastrians, does not belong to this song,“ the petitioner states.