In no small part due to continuing pressure on Comedy Central from our subscribers and the negative publicity resulting from media and blogosphere coverage of the issue, HonestReporting’s campaign has succeeded.
At first, the offensive introduction to Comedy Central’s “I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack!” game was edited to remove the line “You lied to me Jew Producer”. The title of the game itself was also changed to “Drawn Together: The Movie: The Game”, making it far more difficult to locate on Comedy Central’s website.
We continued to argue, however, that the association of Israel with child killing was no more acceptable than the blatant anti-Semitism displayed by the game’s introduction. Impressionable young minds would still be able to play this game online, thus contributing to the misrepresentation and demonization of Israel.
The continuing pressure has paid off. Comedy Central has removed all trace of the “I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack!” game from its website. We believe that it would have been correct for Comedy Central to comment publicly and acknowledge its initial mistakes, perhaps even to make a public apology for the offense caused. After all, retractions and corrections are an accepted norm in the media business.
The network must have realized that it could not erase the protests as easily as its Israel robot erased its cartoon characters. The activists who contacted Comedy Central and joined our Facebook group, kept up the pressure until the game was removed.
Thank you to all of you who participated in this successful online activism. One voice may not make a difference but, together, many can.
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