Members of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee have turned to Clint Eastwood, director of “American Sniper,” and actor Bradley Cooper, who played the lead role of Chris Kyle in the mega-buster movie, to denounce anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s been seeping around social media — and to accept responsibility for driving some of the ethnic and religious hatred.
The group says the movie is to blame in part for some of the Twitter hate that’s been posted about Muslims and is responsible for raising anti-Arab tensions, Mediaite reported.
Some examples of the tweets: Sabrina Ho wrote, “nice to see a movie where the muslims are portrayed for who they really are — vermin scum intent on destroying the US America #AmericanSniper,” the media blog found.
And another, from Porter Hudson: “American Sniper has me wanting to go shoot some [expletive].”
In response, the ADC called for both Mr. Eastwood and Mr. Cooper to fire back at the tweets and use their positions to speak out, Mediaite reported.
“ADC takes these threats seriously and is reaching out to you in an effort to help reduce the hateful rhetoric,” the ADC wrote in a letter to the Hollywood bigwigs. “It is our opinion that you could play a significant role in assisting us in alleviating the danger we are facing. I am asking if you are willing to make a statement against the violent rhetoric being exhibited. The statement should make it clear that we cannot tolerate hate and bigotry here in America.”
The group then faulted “American Sniper” for ratcheting up the rhetoric.
“American Sniper catalyzes increased anti-Arab and Islamophobic tensions here at home,” ADC wrote, Mediaite reported. “It is imperative for us, as Americans, to act now to prevent these verbal threats from turning into violent and physical hate crimes against Arab and Muslim Americans, or those perceived to be Arab or Muslim.”
Mr. Eastwood, meanwhile, said over the weekend that he thought his movie made a powerful statement against war — that its overall tone was anti-war.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.