Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the former head of Saudi intelligence, sparked an interaction among social media activists by commenting on the uproar caused by a satirical comedy clip from US President Joe Biden on the Saudi MBC channel.
Prince Turki spoke regarding the TV comedy scene represented by Khaled Al-Faraj in Studio 22, in which he mocked Biden and showed him forgetting and sleeping during his speeches.
The scene caused widespread uproar in the American media, and commentators and critics expressed their displeasure with this, saying, “It was insulting.” Prince Turki Al-Faisal responded to that by asking, “Why are they allowed to taunt Saudi Arabia and its leaders? Rather, Muslims and Arabs are all, and others are not allowed to do so?”
In this context, the former Saudi intelligence chief wrote an article in “Arab News” entitled “The United States should smile while dealing with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, not frown,” in which he said: “We have learned many lessons during the Covid-19 pandemic, the most important of which are That life is precious and not a single second of it should be wasted, we also learned that as human beings we can overcome adversity and combat the challenges that confront us, and now, thanks to what Saudi Arabia has done to combat the epidemic, we have moved to the post-Corona era, and while many challenges still face us except That in another context, I enjoy the fanfare of the American media regarding the comedic scenes of President Joe Biden; They said that by doing so, he showed that the kingdom was not a friend of the United States.
Prince Turki, who previously served as the Kingdom’s ambassador in London and Washington, pointed out that these American media responses showed their weakness and fragility.
He said: “Regardless of the way the American media treats our leadership, our people and our faith, it goes beyond mocking us to portray all Arabs and Muslims in comedy, drama and fiction with words filled with insults and humiliation.”
Prince Turki continued: “Because of the American media’s mockery of Muslims and Arabs, the Arab-Islamic character has become ridiculed, with its portrayal as an evil person carrying a dagger around his waist, an unkempt white robe and a shaggy beard, and there is usually an oil well near him, and the girls stand at his feet, Behind him is a camel or two.”
Prince Turki cited previous examples of American mockery of Saudi officials, saying: “I remember an episode of a famous American TV series a few years ago; Where an American Secretary of State hit the supposed Saudi foreign minister for accepting her position on the Saudi violation of human rights; The “Saudi Minister” was just a caricature, like all Hollywood films from the 1920s until today. Derogatory references to the kingdom and its leadership on American comedy shows are countless, from Saturday Night Live to comedians like Stephen Colbert.”
Prince Turki also indicated that the attack on Saudi Arabia through the American media affected Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, adding: “The recent American comments regarding the Kingdom and our Crown Prince by so-called experts and even politicians were deliberately negative. One of these stars likened the crown prince to Icarus, the character in Greek mythology who perished following flying near the sun with wings of feathers and wax.
Prince Turki continued: “If only this “expert” had taken an honest look at what the Crown Prince actually said and did, he would not have chosen such a misleading analogy. Likewise, the authors of an article in The Atlantic regarding the crown prince misinterpreted what he said. Fortunately, publishing the full transcript of the interview made things right.”
