French man accuses Netflix of racism over Muslim slur
16 June, 2021
A French man of North African origin has accused Netflix of racial discrimination for calling him a radical Islamist in an action movie that he was filmed without his knowledge, his lawyer said Monday.
Sentinelle, occur the southern city of Nice, tells the story of an elite French soldier returning from service in Syria and getting into a mission to obtain the man who raped her sister.
One scene shows the protagonist, Klara, looking through the sights of her rifle at two young friends saying goodbye to one another.
The scene was shot on the Promenade des Anglais, the seaside walk in which a Tunisian radical ran down 86 persons with a truck on July 14, 2016.
The French subtitles Netflix provided to spell it out the scene for the hard of hearing make reference to two young "barbus" - a derogatory term for ultra-conservative Muslim men which means "the bearded ones".
One of the men, a 21-year-old electrician from Nice, filed a criminal complaint against Netflix over the description, accusing the business of "provoking discrimination and racial hatred", his attorney Jean-Pascal Padovani said.
"The director took the liberty of drawing a line between your North African top features of the people he filmed ... and religious fundamentalists," Mr Padovani said.
That the shot was filmed at the scene of one of the worst terror attacks in French history was a lot more suggestive, he said.
"It's unacceptable since it suggests that anyone of North African origin is a potential terrorist," Mr Padovani said.
A representative of Netflix, that was the target of the complaint as the film's broadcaster, declined to touch upon the matter to AFP.
But it has removed the word "barbus".
Mr Padovani said his client received more than 80 messages from acquaintances who recognised him in the film, that was shot in 2019 and commenced streaming on Netflix in March.
Some expressed shock at seeing him depicted as a terrorist, he said.
The complainant can be considering suing Netflix for using his image for commercial purposes without his permission, Mr Padovani said.
The scene was shot on the Promenade des Anglais, the seaside walk in which a Tunisian radical ran down 86 people with a truck on July 14, 2016.
The French subtitles Netflix provided to spell it out the scene for the hard of hearing refer to two young "barbus" - a derogatory term for ultra-conservative Muslim men that means "the bearded ones".
Among the men, a 21-year-old electrician from Nice, filed a criminal complaint against Netflix over the description, accusing the business of "provoking discrimination and racial hatred", his lawyer Jean-Pascal Padovani said.
"The director took the liberty of drawing a line between your North African features of the people he filmed ... and religious fundamentalists," Mr Padovani said.
That the shot was filmed at the scene of one of the worst terror attacks in French history was a lot more suggestive, he said.
"It's unacceptable as it shows that anyone of North African origin is a potential terrorist," Mr Padovani said.
A representative of Netflix, that was the prospective of the complaint as the film's broadcaster, declined to touch upon the problem to AFP.
But it has removed the word "barbus".
Mr Padovani said his client received a lot more than 80 messages from acquaintances who recognised him in the film, that was shot in 2019 and commenced streaming on Netflix in March.
Some expressed shock at seeing him depicted as a terrorist, he said.
The complainant can be considering suing Netflix for using his image for commercial purposes without his permission, Mr Padovani said.
Sentinelle was directed by French filmmaker Julien Leclercq.
Source: www.thenationalnews.com