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Thursday, March 12, 2009

Iranian children's show axed after Ahmadinejad/monkey incident

Last month we mentioned that a child, during a live call-in segment of a popular Iranian children's TV show called Uncle Pourang, said that his stuffed monkey was named "Ahmadinejad."

Now it turns out that the Iranian leaders, whose sense of humor is so finely tuned that they find the Holocaust to be funny, were not amused - and they canceled the show after seven successful years:
The final episode will be screened next week after a successful seven-year run.

A conservative website, Jahan News, quoting "reliable sources," said the decision was prompted by the "high financial and spiritual damage" inflicted by live broadcasts. Stopping short of identifying the president by name, it highlighted an incident in which "a child in a live telephone line compared its doll to one of the well-known authorities and managers".

The incident is believed to have been the last straw following several other naive indiscretions by callers, which caused acute embarrassment and offended Iran's religious conservative mores.

In one instance, Farziayi was left open mouthed and groping for an appropriate response when, after asking a participant to hand the phone to his mother or father, he was told: "They are in the shower."

Maybe Hamas' "Pioneers of Tomorrow" will be syndicated in Iran to replace "Uncle Pourang."