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"24" EXECUTIVE PRODUCER WITHDRAWS ENDORSEMENT OF "OBSESSION" - TOPOrlando Sentinel, 10/6/08
Howard Gordon, executive producer of Fox's "24," has withdrawn his endorsement of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," a documentary that had been inserted in many newspapers, including the Orlando Sentinel.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement from Gordon. He said: "After being contacted by a number of people whose opinions I respect and after reviewing 'Obsession' with their criticisms and concerns in mind, I have asked the filmmakers to remove my endorsement from the 'Obsession' Web site and from any future promotional materials. While I remain committed to the film's essential message -- that the hate-mongering promoted by radical Islamism presents a real threat to Western values of tolerance and pluralism -- I also appreciate that the goal of co-existence and tolerance is not being served by films like 'Obsession.'"…
But the film has stirred concerns of a backlash against Muslims. "It really promotes the current hysteria surrounding Muslims. And it's really reminiscent of the hysteria of the Cold War and McCarthyism," Hazem Bata, head of the Orlando office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Sentinel last month.