Hindus upset with Jim Carrey & NBC

[Spring Onion]

Hindus upset with Jim Carrey & NBC
ANI, Jan 17, 2011, 11.30am IST

Hindus are disturbed over the portrayal of Lord Ganesh as a sex act on NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) and want apologies from all those responsible for it, including actor Jim Carrey and NBC.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that Lord Ganesh was highly revered in Hinduism and was meant to worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be thrown around loosely in reimagined versions for dramatic effects in TV series for mercantile greed. Such absurd depiction of Lord Ganesh with no scriptural backing was hurtful to the devotees.

In a skit on NBC's SNL (January eight) titled "The Wrath of Ganesh", Jim Carrey (as erotic shaman Lee Licious) and Kenan Thomson (as Grady Wilson) demonstrate a sexual technique, mocking elephant-headed Lord Ganesh and his trunk in the process. Grady has traveled the world to find new sexual techniques to spice up the bedroom, the tagline of the episode (1587) "Grady Wilson''s Tantric N''Tasty" says.

Such trivialization of Lord Ganesh was disturbing and offensive to the one billion Hindus world over, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said and requested NBC to immediately remove it from all its websites and other links.

Rajan Zed also asked Golden Globe winner actor-comedian Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) , actor-comedian Kenan Thomson, NBC Universal President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Zucker, and SNL Executive Producer Lorne Michaels to tender a public apology for it and urged them not to inappropriately drag Hindu deities to advance the commercial or other agenda in the future.

Hindus welcomed Hollywood and other entertainment industries to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and respectfully and not just for indecorous showing of Hindu symbols and concepts to advance their selfish agenda. Casual flirting sometimes resulted in pillaging serious spiritual doctrines and revered symbols and hurting the devotees, Zed pointed out.

Rajan Zed argued that Hinduism was the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about one billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. No faith, larger or smaller, should be ridiculed at; Zed said and added if Hollywood or other entertainment executives needed any assistance about Hinduism, he or other Hindu scholars would be glad to help.

Meanwhile, Forum for Hindu Awakening has called it a "grave denigration" and "vulgar mockery of Sri Ganesh", appealing devout Hindus worldwide to protest against it.

Emmy winning late-night comedy show SNL, which entertains millions each week, entered 36th season on September 25. Headquartered in New York (USA), founded in 1926, and available in about 112 million households; NBC Universal claims to be one of the world''s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.

Lord Ganesh, however, is favorite of many Hollywood celebrities. According to reports, actress-director Goldie Hawn reveres Lord Ganesh, actress Olivia Hussey possesses an extensive collection of his statues, actress Kelli Williams considers him as her favorite, while writer-director Tracey Jackson wears Lord Ganesh necklace. In Bollywood, Mumbai-based Indian film industry considered largest in the world, most of the productions start with invoking Lord Ganesh.

In Hinduism, Lord Ganesh is worshipped as god of wisdom and remover of obstacles and is invoked before the beginning of any major undertaking.

Hindus upset with Jim Carrey & NBC - The Times of India

 

[Dalai Lama]

A few overly sensitive individuals.

 

[Spring Onion]

A few overly sensitive individuals.

No they are not over sensitive infact they are right. no one should play with religious sentiments of anyone.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Well i think the hindus are right.Jim should appologize.

 

[AR]

you cant play or use hindu gods for commercial purpose..... last time I checked news was about hindu god was marked on shoe sole in by US company

 

[indushek]

A few overly sensitive individuals.

Whats this secularism and free thinking at its extreme or are u a atheist??

 

[notsuperstitious]

No need for any apology.

There is no limit to how sensitive can one be. For example some religions believe other religions prophets are fake, and some believe that others religious books are corrupted. Than should they be apologising to each other daily???

You respect your beliefs, don't expect others to.

 

[Dalai Lama]

Whats this secularism and free thinking at its extreme or are u a atheist??

Both. I agree that it was morally wrong but the Hindus also over reacted.

---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 PM ----------

No need for any apology.

There is no limit to how sensitive can one be. For example some religions believe other religions prophets are fake, and some believe that others religious books are corrupted. Than should they be apologising to each other daily???

You respect your beliefs, don't expect others to.

My point exactly!

 

[AR]

Both. I agree that it was morally wrong but the Hindus also over reacted.

---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 PM ----------



My point exactly!

no you are wrong..... they(zed) have done their work.... jim have to apologize......

so you are saying using ganesha in se.xual advertisement is ok??

i dont know you are hindu or not but you have insulted our feelings

 

[AR]

No need for any apology.

There is no limit to how sensitive can one be. For example some religions believe other religions prophets are fake, and some believe that others religious books are corrupted. Than should they be apologising to each other daily???

You respect your beliefs, don't expect others to.

we show respect to others feeling(faith) in public.... and want others to respect ours in Public... thats it

 

[Spring Onion]

no you are wrong..... they(zed) have done their work.... jim have to apologize......

so you are saying using ganesha in se.xual advertisement is ok??

i dont know you are hindu or not but you have insulted our feelings :

what one thinks or believes about other faiths is one thing and making fun of others' faith is totally a different thing which is not at all appreciated.

they should avoid such things simple as that.

 

[Gopal]

No need for any apology.

There is no limit to how sensitive can one be. For example some religions believe other religions prophets are fake, and some believe that others religious books are corrupted. Than should they be apologising to each other daily???

You respect your beliefs, don't expect others to.

First of all , Lord Ganesh is god himself, not some prophet.

Though it depends how Lord Ganesh is actually depicted , we aren't asking Jim Carrey's head ,all we are saying such depiction wrong and shouldn't be encouraged.We have every right to lodge our protest and demand an apology if warranted.

This logic of not believing in our gods,so gives them every right to denigrate our belief and mock our deity would be unacceptable to most people.

There is a big middle ground between Mumtaz Qadri's extremism and total tolerance. Even the most cosmopolitan liberal society have to survive on desire of equal respect, not on equal opportunity for denigration. Thats why that Padri wasn't given a freehand to burn Quran even most free US of A.

 

[indushek]

Both. I agree that it was morally wrong but the Hindus also over reacted.

---------- Post added at 12:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:36 PM ----------



My point exactly!

Great atleast u see the moral wrong in the act.

I don't think we need to talk anymore on this as it will only lead to flaming on your part (which actually is not for u though)

So let us discontinue this here itself as i am not an atheist and deeply revere Hanuman and Ganesh.

 

[PlanetWarrior]

God is a matter of logic and not emotion. Those Hindus offended by the Ganesha debacle need to learn about their religion before jumping in to take offence about the conduct of Carrey and his sidekick ! Firstly , Hindus also believe that God is inanimate, a formless and absolute being. Secondly , we also believe that God manifests Himself/Herself as an avtar when required to sort out problems on earth. Therefore if God is absolute and formless, why is there so much hype over the insulting of a murti which is only supposed to represent some of the aspects of the Supreme being ? With respect to Islam and Muslims, I also question why there is anger when the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) is insulted by westerners. If Allah is the Supreme Being and the prophet was His messenger, then surely anger should only be vented if the Supreme Lord is insulted ? Anyways religion is too complex to debate.

 

[somebozo]

We cry when they depicted our Prophet so Hindus has equal rights to cry and protests as well. Manners and decency call for abstaining from ridiculing religious figures.