Gagged! Network censors eating 'Muhammad' cookie

Officials: Political stunt not in good taste, but 'blasphemous' snack posted on WND

Posted: January 24, 2008
8:45 p.m. Eastern
By Joe Kovacs
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

Molotov Mitchell, the Christian creator of 'Flamethrower,' irreverently eats a cookie featuring a depiction of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. Video posted below

A national television network has decided to censor an episode of a new political show featuring self-described Christian "infidels" eating a cookie emblazoned with an image of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

Faith TV made the decision in the wake of WND news coverage about "Flamethrower," a cutting-edge program whose latest episode originally scheduled for this week deals with "All Things Islam."

"We're not going to air it," said Jim West, president of the Florida-based, Christian network. "We feel this program just goes beyond the bounds of good taste."

"We appreciate the producer's attempt at parody and drawing attention to controversial subjects, and we embrace his right under the First Amendment to express his views," he added. "But it does violate one of our programming philosophy tenets which is not to disparage any world religions."

The creator and host of the show, Molotov Mitchell, said he understands why the network gave the episode the ax, and was able to joke about it.

"If Faith TV pulls our show, I guess it was Allah's will. Peace be upon them," Mitchell clowned. "I'd say the real winner in all this is Muhammad."

West made it clear his network was not dousing "Flamethrower" entirely, only the episode with the edible prophet.

"We have a responsibility to our affiliates who have FCC licenses," said West. "We have a programming philosophy we have to live by whether we personally agree with their content or not."

When asked what specifically bothered him, West said, "Painting Islam with a very broad brush rather than focusing on radical Islamic extremists. I think the other problem was although much was presented in the form of a parody, it was done in a condescending, spiteful manner."

Mitchell, 28, was complimentary of all the officials at the network, but disagreed with their reasoning.

"With all respect to Faith TV, I think this decision reflects a fundamental problem in the way Christians address pagan religions. The questions Christians should ask themselves are: 'Is what Molotov and the "Flamethrower" panelists are saying true?' If so, should we stifle it? And secondly, and I believe most American Christians need to think about this one is: 'Does Jesus hate Islam?'"

While Faith TV has opted against airing the episode, WND has obtained a clip of the program featuring the cookie being chomped on by Mitchell.

WND EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Watch part of the program deemed too disparaging for broadcast by Faith TV


"Not only do we have the Muhammad face on a cookie, but it's about to be eaten by an infidel – a Christian, no less," said Mitchell moments before taking a bite.

After sinking his teeth into a portion of what was Muhammad's beard, Mitchell was asked how it tasted.

"Blasphemous," he said with a delicious grin.

"That cookie is the bomb!" another panelist is heard saying.

In recent years, European cartoons featuring Muhammad have caused a tidal wave of violent protests and death threats, as Islamic tradition bans depictions of the prophet.

Mitchell says the entire program will soon be posted on the "Flamethrower" website, and, by popular demand, the Muhammad cookies will be made available there as well.

"One fan said if we all told an Islamic joke and ate one cookie a day, Islam would go away forever," he said.

Despite the temporary setback, Mitchell remains unapologetic when it comes to his view of Islam and Muhammad.

"I don't think we need to target Islamic extremism as much as we need to understand who Muhammad was," said Mitchell.

"He was a villain; he killed people; he made a 9-year-old his sex slave; and anyone who questioned him was either killed or enslaved. The problem with Islam is not the extremists – it's Muhammad. And I think the sooner we wake up to that as Americans, the sooner we can actually win a war on terror."

'Flamethrower' features a young cast describing itself as the next generation of conservatism

Faith TV says it will closely examine every other episode of the show in advance to see if it meets the broadcaster's standards and practices.

Mitchell says, "I guess we'll just have to be pretty careful about how we address evil from now on. By the way that's sarcasm! ...

"One thing I've noticed is that it's always the Christians who are most offended when people speak ill of other religions. We should all pause and ask ourselves who stands to gain if we're afraid to call a spade a spade – the forces of evil, or the forces of good, and I mean that in an epic, Christian, supernatural sense."


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