"Star Wars toy deemed "culturally insensitive"" Topic

From: link

MUNICH – Danish toy maker Lego plans to stop selling a model of the "palace" of slug-like Star Wars character Jabba The Hutt after complaints that it resembles a revered mosque, according to a group that raised the grievance.

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, said Monday the play set modeled on the obese alien's fictional home was culturally insensitive….

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, said the Lego version of Jabba The Hutt's palace resembles Istanbul's Hagia Sophia….

I find this….ironic.

"I find this….ironic."

I have a more caustic opinion.

LOL!

Looks more like the Pantheon to me.

The religion of perpetual outrage will always be complaining about something. If they have pulled the toy then Lego are gutless wonders, just like almost all the rest of the "west". They caved the same way when some Maori groups here complained about the names of some of their Bionicle range.

Update – it seems Lego have not pulled the toy but it is ceasing production next year anyway – still available from their online store.

Best April fools joke this year.

Actually, I heard about this weeks ago. Sadly, not an April Fools joke.

Yep, it is true, and not an April Fool's joke.

Wasn't that iteration #3 of Jabba's Palace in Lego form? My bet is they pull it and release the next version to coincide with Disney's nth Anniversary Special Double Blu-Ray Vault edition of Return of the Jedi…

Pray tell, Mr. Smaller, which religion isn't a religion of perpetual outrage?

Wasnt it an Orthodox church first?

They didn't even build it !!! Wow!

DM

What hacks me off about it is that the Hagia Sophia isn't a mosque. It's a Byzantine Eastern Orthodox basilica, built by the Christian emperor Justinian, designed by two Greeks. No Muslim had anything to do with either its design or construction— the Muslim faith didn't even exist at the time. The beautiful church was later converted into a mosque by the Ottomans, who added the exterior minarets and plastered over the mosaic icons inside in what was clearly a direct affront aimed at the Christians they had defeated. So if anyone has the right to be offended over this matter, it's the Eastern Orthodox Church. (And yes, that's highly ironic, too— a Muslim organization getting upset over a toy that resembles what some would call a desecrated church. Ha!)

As it is, these days it's no longer a mosque at all, but a museum, so the complainant's point is moot. And if I said anything more about my thoughts on the whole thing, I'd need to go to the DH.

In any case, Lego needs to write the guy a letter, like so:

Dear Sir,

The item in question is a toy that depicts this imaginary structure in an American fiction film:

It is not a mosque, and any resemblance to one is purely coincidental, nor is there any intent on anyone's part at Lego or Lucasfilm to be culturally or religiously insensitive. If you do not like the toy, return it to the store where purchased and let other children enjoy their lives free of your whinging.

Sincerely,
Lego

P.S. The Hagia Sophia was designed as a church. Learn some history, you ignorant pile of bantha droppings.

But that would probably be going too far.

Send all concerned emails to:

b.kilic@einspruch.at

Original post by TCA of Austria: link
Use google to translate.

I'd presume this is an April fools prank but I'm afraid this kind of foolishness is all year round….

Birol Kilic, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Association of Austria, said Monday the play set modeled on the obese alien's fictional home was culturally insensitive….

…and I'm offended by the cultural insensitivity displayed by lego in making the building on the left resemble an Irish Monastic Round Tower…how dare they…

and…my wife is offended by my resemblance to Jabba the Hutt after eating too much Easter chocolate during the weekend…how dare she…

Oh how sensitive we are all becoming…great evidence for evolution…human backbones are shrinking… we are in serious danger of evolving into a bunch of spineless goons…

…I'm sorry if I offended anyone…not

I used to work for someone who looked like Jabba the Hut. Now that was offensive…

Yeah, pretty lame them getting bent out of shape about a toy resembling the Hagia Sophia, the holiest of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Right now its a museum. While traveling in Turkey last year, I noted the militant Muslims want to turn it back into a mosque. Why leave anything unprovoked?

I bet they are all off the shelves now – and appearing soon on ebay…

Looks like a mushroom to me. Hmmm mushrooms.

To: Turkish Cultural Association of Austria

Dear Mr. Birol Kilic,

We're dreadfully sorry that the [LEGO Star Wars Jabba The Hutt Palace set] that you purchased did not contain the [leather bikini-clad Princess Leia figure] that you so had anticipated receiving with your purchase.

We will send you three (3) immediately via overnight express shipping.

Again, we're sorry for any inconvenience.

Yours,
Quality Control & Enjoyment Fulfillment Services

All hail the magic mushrooms! Oh wrong religion sorry…

VR
James Mattes

I used to work for someone who looked like Jabba the Hut. Now that was offensive…

Even worse would be to work for someone who smelled like Jabba!

Someone needs a visit from Boba Fett.

No exterminations.

Parzival FTW. ;-}~

And no one is talking about darth vader helmet?

:))))

Pray tell, Mr. Smaller, which religion isn't a religion of perpetual outrage?

C3PO: No one ever worries about annoying a Quaker.

Han: That's because Quakers don't cut your head off when they lose.

What? Was the Bib Fortuna minifigure not wearing his suicide bomb vest?

Well, if anyone knows about a total lack of cultural sensitivity, even to the point of outlawing other religions…….

Lucas not trying to be culturaly insesitive, MEESA DOAN TINK SO.

Maybe we could get the Jamaicans to complain and for Disney to digitally remove Jar Jar from the prequels.

Want cultural insensitivity? Just read this thread.

As for Lucasfilm, Star Wars, and cultural sensitivity…have you actually watched the films? They are full of very sort of culturally insensitive, offensive nonsense imaginable. Especially the prequels.

It is quite possible that Jabba's Palace bears a resemblance to the Haga Sophia. This is likely not accidental, production designers borrow inspiration from all over. It is also quite possible that sme are offended by this resemblance.

Personally I believe that the only reason Ewoks appeared in RotJ is because H. beam Piper was dead and so couldn't sue. Read Little Fuzzy and tell me with a straight face that Ewoks aren't a blatant steal. Now hat is offensive.

Did you guys actually read the whole article? This is a case of a manufactured story that really doesn't exist.

LEGO is not discontinuing the set because of pressure. The article is simply inferring that LEGO not announcing the end of the set in January means that now they're caving to pressure. I've followed LEGO for a long time and they do not make a habit of announcing the end of a set until they want too Here's more of the article:

Lego posted on Twitter Monday that it has always intended to stop selling the item at the end of the year. "We only keep a product in the assortment for a few years and it was scheduled to exit in 2013 from launch," the tweet said.

However, there was no mention of those original plans in a January press release which said: "The LEGO Group regrets that the product has caused the members of the Turkish cultural community to interpret it wrongly."

Roar Trangbæk, a Lego spokesman, on Monday denied that the group had anything to do with their decision.
"The decision to terminate this particular product is not based on any dialogue with the mentioned community," Trangbæk said. "We regret the misinterpretation but we fully stand behind the product."

oridinarybass, I've heard corporate/politcal speech before, it sounds an aweful lot like the quotes you have from the article. Is it true, is it not true and they really did bow to pressure, we will probably never know. (Nor do I care – I'm just here for the Jar Jar quotes)

Well, you get the idea, maybe.

Ron

Well if the contention is true, perhaps they should offer some trips in their starships for a cultural looksee. I'm sure the UN would like see what the fuss is about.Perhaps NATO should be aligned with the Empire as well. I would watch out for that Vader fellow though. I'm not sure he can be trusted.

>>>Toy model of Jabba The Hutt's palace resembles a mosque, group says<<<

Well, I mean, it kinda does.

I don't see a mosque. I see a converted Orthodox basilica that is currently a museum. So, no, it doesn't resemble a mosque.

It was Jabba's house!

Well seeing as it was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away that Jabba built his palace I say the Byzantines must of copied him. so whats the problem?

I find it more offensive that the letters of the word LEGO can be rearranged to form the words 'Islam talks '

And yet… you are all offended…

"…That's because droids don't declare jihad when they lose…"

Pray tell, Mr. Smaller, which religion isn't a religion of perpetual outrage?
--------------
Or as a UK comedian said when asked why he told jokes about Christianity but not another faith "because Christians don't drive explosive laden trucks into buildings if you make them angry"

My local mall also looks vaguely like it. I guess someone should tell them so that they can tear down the mall before it offends them.

It is still available from LEGO: link

Thank you, GNREP8 for that cold dash of Truth.