Politician Boycotts Lowe’s for Pulling TV Ads

“All-American Muslim” is a show that airs on the TLC network. It profiles Muslim-American families form a suburb of Detroit, one that is has a heavy Muslim population. Recently, the home improvement store chain Lowe’s decided to pull its advertisements from the show’s run schedule. By doing so, one United States politician says he will no longer patronize the Lowe’s location in his district because the chain is practicing a bigoted move.

“In the past, I absolutely have visited the Lowe’s in my district. If you were to ask me now, I would not,” state Sen. Ted Lieu told POLITICO. “I just can’t believe a U.S. corporation is engaging in this sort of bigotry.”

Lieu said he will be looking into whether the hardware store broke any United States laws by pulling its ads that were supposed to run during the “All-American Muslin” program as a result of pressure from a conservative religious group. Lieu is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law School.

The group that convinced Lowe’s to remove its ads is that of The Florida Family Association. The Association pleaded with its members to write to the Lowe’s Corporation urging that the company pull its ads from the show. The group, which is conservative, said that the reality show is “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.”

When Lieu found out what Lowe’s had done, he explained that he nearly fell off his chair, describing his emotion to POLITICO.

“Lowe’s is engaged in religious discrimination… it is utter nonsense, it is religious bigotry, and I’m just stunned that Lowe’s pulled their advertising,” he said. “Those views from the Florida Family Association are completely bigoted.”

The politician, from California, said that there is a double-standard with Muslims in the United States and it is evident by Lowe’s pulling their ads from the television show.

“If the show was called All-American Asian, or All-American Jew or All-American Latino, don’t you think the outcry would be a lot different? For some reason, people seem to think that it’s okay to discriminate against Muslim-Americans, and I’m just trying to say, ‘no, it’s not,’” he said.

Even though Lieu is looking into possible legal ramifications because of the actions taken by Lowe’s Lieu has since backed off the idea that Lowe’s possible broke a law by pulling the ads from the television show.

“I haven’t actually come out to say they’ve broken any law. I’m looking into it,” he said, but added, “Lowe’s couldn’t fire one of their employees because they learned that person practiced Islam, and so therefore the person poses a ‘clear and present danger’. So the question is, can Lowe’s could pull their advertising for that reason?”