Call to Action: Remove violence-inciting clip from YouTube

Helem Montreal and Raynbow’s Lebanese LGBT Media Monitor has launched a successful campaign against hate speech by Lebanese pop star Mohamed Eskandar. The campaign has lead to a large uproar and cancelation of his three concerts in Windsor, Montreal and Ottawa on Aug 31, Sept 1 and 2 respectively. We recently learned that the original letter of protest sent out to the Canadian embassy might have also done its charm, the singer is now denied entry into Canada permanently according to Helem Montreal’s Legal Bureau.

MTV Lebanon has removed that clip of their YouTube channel early in the campaign to avoid any confrontation with the human rights activists.

It is now time we take those horrendous lyrics off YouTube. Below are easy steps on how to report the clip as offensive so that YouTube removes it. We need a large number of people to report it, so share widely.

1. Click on the link to the clip that needs to be reported: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNUH1HWp8x0. You will see the following:

2. Click on the “Flag as inappropriate” button you see to the right of “Share” button. You will see the following:

3. Click on “Select a Reason”. You will see this screen:

4. Place the cursor over “Hateful or Abusive Content” and a popup menu shows. Click on “promotes hatred or violence”

5. You now see this screen.

6. Click on the button to the right of “Please indicate what the hate speech was about:” Now you will see a list as here:

7. Click on “sexual orientation”. You will see this:

8. Consider writing something in the empty box right above the Submit button. I wrote thew following:

“Refer to all the recent media coverage that is gathered on http:fb.com/LebLGBTmonitor

This singer has been banned from entering Canada becasue of this song”

You can copy paste it or write your own.

 

9. Click “Submit video for review”

PS: This is not an “attack” on the person of Mohamed Eskandar or his business, it is at attempt to protect vulnerable marginalized people in Lebanon and the Arab world and diaspora from the harm those lyrics can cause. The campaign will not stop at this song, but any other song that encourages violence against womyn, children and the LGBT community.