Authorities across the Arab world have banned the billion-dollar blockbuster "Barbie" for purportedly violating morals and ethics. Meanwhile, riding a new wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in Lebanon, the culture minister condemned Barbie for "promoting homosexuality", seeking a ban, and has just announced a controversial new law to battle "sexual deviancy". For more on the on-going bubble gum pop-culture controversy bubbling, blowing and popping across North Africa and the Middle East, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Ayman Mhanna, Executive Director of the Samir Kassir Foundation. Mr. Mhanna hails the all-encompassing philosophical theme of the movie, "challenging established worldviews that have enabled decades, centuries, millennia of privilege for one segment of the population." He asserts that "it's only by challenging these systems that societies move forward."
Source: France24.com