iSlam app removed by Apple

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on May 20th, 2010

Comedian Emery Emery built an app for iPhone users called “iSlam,” which was a way for users to download particularly violent passages from the Koran and wave the violent nature of the “religion of peace” in the face of those who either had no idea or who are in denial.

It was accepted by Apple and offered for download on their app store. (Which, to be honest, we thought was rather odd, since we thought Apple to be allergic to controversy.)

Well, it seems that they’ve relented. They’ve taken down the app and you can hear the phone call from the Apple suit below.

Emery is, of course, unhappy with the decision and he’s decided to take the debate to the press.

His main beef– and it’s a good one– is that Apple has no problem with a similar app, called Bible Thumper, that performs a similar function with regard to Christianity, providing amunition with quotes from the Bible.

We predict that his plight will be ignored by the MSM. There is a clear double standard out there in the media and the culture. The rules are quite clear: You can make all the fun you want of Christianity (or Judaism, for that matter… or Taoism or Buddhism), but you had better steer clear of Islam. Why? Who knows? Because they threaten best-selling authors? Because they blow up giant buildings filled with innocent people? Because they “persuade” major cable outlets to censor comedy shows? Who cares? Rules are rules. And Emery is feeling the sting of those rules tonight. And he is learning that a company with $42 billion in annual revenue that doesn’t need to piss off some pissant who runs a website that offers an soft fatwah on Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Is this a free speech issue? No. Apple can offer whatever they want to their iPhone customers. (And Emery can offer it to the Droid app market if he wishes. But he won’t get the exposure he desires if he must resort to that. And we suspect that Verizon and Google wouldn’t really be comfortable waving a red flag in the face of radical Islam.) So… it’s more of a case of commerce and pointed political speech. And the fact that they initially accepted the app then rejected it proves nothing more than they screwed up and created a minor P.R. problem. We say “minor,” because we don’t think it’s going to be a story on CBS, ABC, NBC, et al. Those corporations are very much in tune with our current attorney general.

But it will be interesting to see how this shakes out over the next news cycle or two.

from → News • 0 Comments - Let's discuss! • Print-Friendly • Back To Top