Eddie Griffin and New Movie Woe(s)

[AKA2D '91]

April 3, 2003 -- Bin Laden joke steams Sikhs


SIKHS have their turbans in a twist over Eddie Griffin's new stand-up comedy movie, "Dysfunktional Family," in which he calls a Sikh man "bin Laden."

In coming attractions now running in theaters, Griffin rants, "I can't understand why they can't find Osama bin Laden, 6-foot-6 with a nappy beard and a towel on his head. But they can find my cousin, 4-foot-11 in Compton! . . . Who the [bleep] they got hunting this mother[bleeper]? Gomer Pyle?"

At the end of the trailer, Griffin is shown outside yelling at an elderly Sikh walking past him. "Bin Laden! I knew you was around here! Gonna getcha! Told you I'd find him myself."

The Sikhs are a Hindu sect founded 500 years ago in the Punjab region of India, who believe in abolishing the caste system. Not surprisingly, many Sikhs - who wear turbans and have long beards - aren't amused by Griffin's schtick, especially in the wake of increased hate crime attacks on Sikh-Americans since 9/11.

Preetmoyan Singh, director of the Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force, wrote to distributor Miramax asking to meet with a studio representative to discuss his concerns.

"While we recognize the place of humorists to diffuse tensions in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, we believe visual depictions linking Sikh-Americans with the perpetrators of violent terrorist acts do not serve that purpose," Singh wrote Miramax last month.

"This scene making the connection between Sikhs and the world's most prominent terrorist reinforces the common misperception and stereotype that Sikhs are extremists and terrorists."

Miramax declined to meet with Singh to discuss the movie, which opens tomorrow. But a studio spokesman insists Griffin is an equal-opportunity offender.

"He laughs at everyone's expense," the spokesman said. "Including his own, his mother's and his dysfunctional family. People will come to this film to laugh."

It's likely that Sikhs won't be the only group to take offense at "Dysfunktional Family." In one bit, Griffin vows he could find bin Laden with "five Bloods, five Crips, four Mexicans and three rednecks."