Again, Lego racism allegations are dogging the popular company, this time with accusations from the Middle East. The latest incident with the toy company involves claims from a Turkish group that the Legos Star Wars Palace set, featuring Jabba the Hutt, is racist with hints of terrorism and its alleged use of a Muslim place of worship.
According to its Jan. 24 report, Huffington Post noted that leaders in the Turkish community expressed objections to the Lego Star Wars set (number 9516) on Wednesday. The group alleges that the Legos are constructed to resemble several famous mosques.
A statement released from the Turkish Cultural Community of Austria claims that the set including Jabba the Hutt in the Star Wars series is constructed to resemble Middle Eastern places of worship like the Jami al-Kabir mosque in Beirut and Istanbul's Hagia Sophia mosque.
Lego racism is reinforced with the inclusion of Jabba, a Lego character known as a notorious terrorist, who uses foul tactics to carry out his evil dark-side ways.
Sources say Turkish leaders threaten legal action if the alleged racist Lego Star Wars set is not removed from sale in the retail markets.
"The terrorist Jabba the Hutt likes to smoke a hookah and have his victims killed," read a statement from the groups website.
What's more, leaders claim Lego characters look sinister, carry out murder and enslave people.
In response to allegations of racism, the company released this statement:
"The Lego Star Wars product Jabba's Palace does not reflect any actually existing buildings, people, or the mentioned mosque."
Both Star Wars and Lego have been accused of racism in the past. Some of the allegations include references to Asian stereotypes among the characters in the George Lucas' movie.
Others involve claims that Lego's toys reinforce racism as depicted in movies and all non-white characters have evil appearances and scowl.
As far as alleged Lego racism is concerned with the latest Star Wars Palace set, the company has not indicated if it would comply with requests to remove the toys from circulation.
What's your opinion about the allegations?
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