It did cause quite a kerfuffle in Egypt, where the guy who posted it online was hauled before a judge (for "insulting Islam," of course) by outraged Salafists. Fortunately--and unusually--common sense has prevailed:
CAIRO—An Egyptian court on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit brought by an ultraconservative Muslim lawyer who accused a Christian tycoon of insulting Islam by posting an online cartoon of Mickey Mouse with a beard and Minnie in a face veil.
Telecom and media mogul Naguib Sawiris angered Muslim hard-liners in June by relaying the cartoon on his Twitter account. The picture was a parody about the growing influence of Islamists in Egypt following the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising last year.
The court dismissed the case and fined the plaintiffs less than $10 for the court's time over the matter...Too bad the mogul had felt the need to grovel to the "anti-blasphemy" types:
After the cartoon sparked an uproar among conservatives, Sawiris tweeted an apology and removed the post. “I apologize for those who don't take this as a joke; I just thought it was a funny picture; no disrespect meant. I am sorry,” he tweeted.Actually, it's not a mockery of Islam. It's a mockery of Islamists, a distinction that is obviously lost on the daffy Salafis.
But ultraconservative Islamists who follow a strict Salafi interpretation of Islam blasted the cartoon as a mockery of Islam.
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