A dog with the name of "Anwar Sadat" in the 2009 film "I Love You, Man" is
the subject of a lawsuit.
A puggle dog named "Anwar Sadat" is the subject of a lawsuit filed by Rokaya Sadat, the eldest daughter of the former president of Egypt, against the makers of the film "I Love You, Man," released March 20, 2009 in the United States by Dreamworks.
In the bromantic comedy, Peter (played by Paul Rudd) meets a quirky guy named Sydney (Jason Segel) who has a dog he's named Anwar Sadat after the former president of Egypt "because they look exactly alike."
That particular scene (see video, below) was cut from the film when it opened in Egypt recently. But Maswary.com (in Arabic) discovered the scene and publicized it.
"May be it is funny in the States but for us this is a huge insult even if it were not for an icon like Sadat," writes one blogger on Egyptian Chronicles.
"Muslims believe dogs can violate ritual purity and consider them unclean," reports the Associated Press. "Calling someone a dog is one of the worst insults in the Middle East."
Muhammed Anwar Al Saddat, the slain former president
of Egypt from 1970 to 1981.
Anwar Sadat was Egypt's president from 1970 to 1981, when he was assassinated by Islamic militants. Sadat was awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with Menachim Begin, the then-Prime Minister of Israel.
Rokaya Sadat, who is a vigorous defender of her father's image and reputation, is outraged at the American movie that depicts a dog with her father's name. (It appears the puggle's real name is, in fact, Anwar Sadat.)
This is a disaster, a serious affront.
This has caused serious psychological and moral damages to the plaintiff, as President Sadat is a prominent figure in the Arab history in general and in Egyptian history in particular.
-- Ms. Sadat's lawyer, Samir Sabri, tells the AP
Ms. Sadat has filed a lawsuit in Cairo against Dreamworks, as well as a libel suit against Egypt's minister of information for allowing the movie to be shown. She demands that all copies of the movie be removed from the market, reports the AP.
Comments
How about if they rename him Allah?
may allah cast his spells on u you fool
Puggles Rock! www.mrpuggle.com
In graduate school I took a course taught by Mme. Jehan Sadat, President Anwar Sadat's widow. One day I raised my hand and asked about animal rights in Egypt. Mme. Sadat laughed at me with scorn and said it sickened her to see grocery store aisles in the US filled with dog food when people in her country are starving. The whole class joined in and laughed at me. So, I can tell you from first hand experience the Sadat family hates dogs and they have no sense of humor.
Mr. Anwar El Sadat the ex-president of Egypt himself had a dog, that was his own pet, I believe that nowadays talking about animal rights in Egypt is certainly a joke when there are no human rights at all, which caused the revolution, you might have misinterpreted Mme Sadat's laughter as she might have been laughing about the tackling the issue in Egypt. FYI Islam orders us to love and respect animals and give them their rights too...
president Anwar Sadat was and still one of the greatest men in the whole world.
if you realy a cultured nation , you would known that.
How would it go over around here if I had a monkey named Malcolm X?
This is clear humiliation. My country is so many things but going around & making movies that completely insult leaders of other nations has never been on her list of qualities! Shame on whoever made that movie come to existence...
Amy from Egypt, Really???!!! Come on you have never made a disparaging remark about any other nations leaders? Never a ill word about George W. Bush? Come on, and the character didn't say anything negative about Mr. Sadat he simply said the dog looks like him, not negative, just a observation.
The funny thing is, Anwar Sadat really did look like a puggle!
Sorry, guys, but Dad is dead. It's time to move on.
We respect dogs in Egypt, we do not call them after american presidents and israeli savagers,
Sadat showed the world that rough power can never break the hearts of freemen, and sought peace at the most powerful position after vectory, none ever preceded him in that. and he gave his life doing this. his glory will never be affected by scum laughing at each other. and Every Dog Has to Know its Place
The spelling mistake was to make you laugh the Sadat family are very well educated I wonder if Ramy knows his place
Wat if they call him jesus ?
What if they call him Jesus?
Do you think America will send troops to Egypt to protect Democracy
and freedom of speech.
haha, I love that scene.
"Because they look exactly alike!"
If our Prime minister was mentioned in a film, we would be jumping for joy. Even if it was a dog that was named after him.
And the dog's cute!
its a honest mistak
american lovves dogs but egyptian hate dogs so much "not all of them"
sorry .........
but the movie was great
its a honest mistak
american lovves dogs but egyptian hate dogs so much "not all of them"
sorry .........
but the movie was great
OOOHH!! you have gone too far by mentioning Allah.
Allah is the name of God, and as far as i know you believe in God existense so why the hell would you say so?, anyway i'm not gonna argue with you cause you're simply stupid.
It was just a joke, not meant to hurt anyone. Also, I think it is probably more American to anthropomorphasize their pets (meaning attributing human traits to them). I would personally love to have a dog that looks like Buddha or Jesus. Yes, I would name them accordingly out of love! We do love our pets in the U.S. They are Allah's creatures too!
This lawsuit doesnt stand a chance in court. Any judge w/a brain would throw it out. Some people are a little to touchy.It was a tiny part of the film.This kind of dedication would be better spent elsewhere.
You are very wrong. Do some research please.
George Sommers Bos. PETS Birds&Fish Examiner. can you?
this movie was amazing, so what if they named it after sadat. im a mexican/iranian american, so im all over the place lol. when i saw the seen when it shows the puggle and sadat i laughed my a** of. i named my dogs Moctezuma (zuma for short) and akhenaten ( or akky )they were both great leaders or their lands and time. and i plan to get two dogs more and ill name them jesus and muhammad. so yeah sue me ! the movie was awesome, people are too sensitive, egyptians shouldn't get all high and mighty, well nobody should. peace is the way
The problem with you people from egypt of any country that let's religion ruin your life is you can't take a joke, you muslims and middle eastern scumbags(not everyone) but most are the most evil and cruel people on the planet, why do you think you have nothing, you take 1 scene out of a movie and declare jihad! Your nothing but worthless Sand N@#$$#! and you will burn in hell for all the destructions you have cause around the world, go blow yourselves up or something
yes my friend you are the Angels in this world why dont just take a tiny look in the american history or european history when it comes of politics with other countries through time?
Stephanie, you cannot talk sense to a loony person....so I guess my comment is of no use.
You people are the insensitive ones. If there was a movie that claimed Washington, Lincoln, or Reagen looked like asscracks, oh my goodness the outrage there would be. Stephanie, you are an absolute bitch and should be given a gag order or have your right to free speech taken away.
As if you can't tell already America doesn't give two craps about you Arabs. Maybe you'll thin about that next time before you fly an airplane into our buildings. This is a movie, you killed thousands of our blood. Quit complaining and suck it up, screw you and your sand jockey president
do you even know what are you talking about ?
this is fake, I love the movie! I own a few puggles myself... I've recently changed their names to junior and the III
the PM of the UK was called the lap dog for G.W. the world made fun of G.W. !!! Sadat was an jew hating rag head. sorry, but it is just what it is. the slaughter of the pigs recently killing off the business interests of the christians in egypt pretty much shows they have not gained a respect for anyone else so let them fester if their former leader looks like a dog.
this is the most stupid comment i ever read there was a war between egypt & israel & he took back the land they assaulted not only that be he started the peace treatment & you say he is a jew hater as he took back what is ours ? slaugther of pigs as you saied (recently) was to elimenate the swine flue & it was sold as pigs are not grown in egypt as pits but because christians eats it even the owners were given mony for slauthering the pigs quickly not only that but even the priests in the churches encouraged it . my ignorant friend my advice is to think before you speak as you look like a fool now
Wow. Just came upon this article after seeing the movie again and wondering why they named the dog after Sadat. But "wow" is all I can say to some of the comments here. The bigotry here is enough to sink a ship. I'm ashamed that Americans can be so insensitive. I agree that the movie was funny, and yes, the joke wasn't in bad taste because it was created without ill intent. But that doesn't mean that Egyptian people or anyone for that matter cannot be offended. It is, in the end, racially insensitive.
The joke isn't racially insensitive--it isn't about race at all. The joke is that the dog's face and the President's face look similar, which has nothing to do with race. It has to do with the comparative similarities between the physical appearance of their faces. So what the issue comes down to is having a sense of humor and taking a joke. It is impossible to say something that doesn't offend somebody else, and it is impractical to go around trying to avoid offending any potential party. It is not the job of the movie's screenwriters to write jokes that cater to any potential international audience. It's their job to write a screenplay that is commercially successful, and the big bucks aren't made in Egypt. The person whose job entailed middle east public relations did right by Egyptians when he/she cut the scene from the movie there. As was mentioned before, Americans do indeed love dogs, and the joke comparison would be considered endearing here, not meant to offend. Americans do not give special deference to our public officials--Americans make jokes about our famous presidents day in and day out--it does not cause outrage. Watch an episode of The Daily Show or South Park, or pick up a copy of any newspaper in the United States if you have the slightest doubt. Certainly anyone has the right to be offended, but likewise anyone has the right to make a joke. That's the beauty of the American way.
I think the use of a dog in this movie was a tribute to Anwar Sadat. In fact Mr. Sadat is said to have thought that Israel was under a psychological barrier and it seems some of the comments here are exactly that psychological barrier. If you analyze the scenes using the dog, he is loved by his owner, the dog is encouraged to relieve himself wherever he likes and the owner defends the dog's rights to do so. I feel the daughter of President Sadat was too sensitive and not seeing that American humor has a way of showing a hidden meaning woven within the story and the visuals and no intent to belittle President Sadat was ever intended. The character played by Jason Segel who usually portrays well meaning, down to earth and truthful characters, would not himself as an actor deliberately or conspire with a producer to demean a famous real person who has not through history already shown he/she is worth demeaning. In fact what I take from this, the loyal and lovable dog is a symbol of the great man that was Anwar Sadat.
It was a device to
bring back this leader's memory to present day consciousness.
I agree with you man
While I can understand people being offended by this, there are also others like myself who didn't know who Anwar Sadat is and, because of this movie, looked him up. Never did I think he was a dog or a bad person - I had no opinion of him because I didn't know who he was. But that scene in the movie brought at least minimal awareness to his existence.
Those who can't fight the battles always make like this small actor
but any way i know there is a big difference between americans and american dogs
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!