Egyptian-American actor and comedian Ramy Youssef appeared on “Sesame Street” in mid-April to celebrate Arab American Heritage Month. In a warm and tender segment, he taught Elmo the meaning of the greeting “as-salamu alaykum.” “Salam means peace and it's a way of saying hello in Arabic,” he told the Muppets. Youssef also explained the meaning of “habibi,” which is an Arabic term of endearment meaning “my love.”
Adorable to most, but stimulating to some. Fox News commentator Raymond Arroyo warned the public about the dangers of the language lesson, comparing it to a gateway drug to Islam. “I wish 'Sesame Street' would stick to teaching kids about letters and numbers and leave the Arabic immersion to someone else,” he said on the “Ingraham Angle.” “Next, Bert and Ernie will pray five times a day on 'Sesame Street,' facing east.”
But Fox News, like the Republican administration, is cherry-picking which parts of Islam it is willing to tolerate.
On Monday, Paramount Skydance asked Trump's Federal Communications Commission for permission to exceed foreign ownership rules for American media companies, paving the way for its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. If approved, three powerful Arab-Muslim ruling royal families from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar would become co-owners of an American media monolith that includes CNN and HBO.
However, there is no complaint or alarm from Fox, or conservative influencers or politicians in the MAGA ecoverse. It is a totally misplaced silence given that Islam, Muslims, the Middle East and Arabs have long been a source of outrage for those on the right who wish to rally their bases. Vote for our guy or risk living under sharia and stay away from Barack hussein Obama!
So why the silence about the appearance of Middle Easterners in the American media? Selective outrage. It is best not to draw attention to a Saudi or Emirati income if it benefits the conservative cause, the president or his friends.
Which brings us back to Paramount's petition to the FCC. Oracle co-founder, billionaire and conservative donor Larry Ellison is a longtime friend of the president. After the FCC predictably approved the merger of Ellison's Skydance Media with Paramount last year, CBS struck the deal. Under Ellison, anti-woke media figure Bari Weiss was quickly named head of CBS News, which includes “60 Minutes,” and Trump critic Stephen Colbert's late show was canceled. Their last show is May 21.
Ellison's political leanings and close ties to Trump could explain why news of his FCC application hasn't sparked the usual fear of Muslims from people like Arroyo. Middle Eastern royal families, including Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other foreign investors, would help finance Paramount's proposed $81 billion transaction.
The art of selective outrage is certainly at play as the Trump Organization and the president's son, Eric, expand their business reach in Qatar, including a $3 billion luxury real estate development that includes a Trump International Golf Club and a $500 million UAE-linked investment in World Liberty Financial (crypto). But the flow of dirhams and rials does not stop there. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and his firm Affinity Partners recently reported more than $6.1 billion in assets, with most of the funds tied to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Fox News has spent little to no energy calling out the clear conflict of interest, and they have largely remained silent as Trump's Griffocracy spreads to regions he once sought to isolate from the United States.
Trump in 2015 sought to ban all Muslims from entering the United States. A few months later, he stated that “Islam hates us.” And when he came to the White House almost a year later, one of the first things he did as president was institute a Muslim ban, suspending entry for 90 days to travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Notice the missing Gulf countries and Emirates?
Now, the president is not only banning Iran but also bombing it, to the tune of $25 billion. His erratic comments about the military campaign (“Praise be to Allah!”) on his Truth Social platform engender reams of violent, hate-filled anti-Muslim responses from his primed and primed followers. But they seem to overlook their growing relationship with those guys in “men's dresses” (which is how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis referred to traditional men's clothing in the Gulf during a Republican debate).
What a strange world it is when a Muslim-banning president ties his legacy to wealthy Muslim nations, and America's No. 1 cable news station spends its time attacking a puppet for learning to say “peace” and “love” in Arabic.
