LOWE’S YANKS ADS FROM ALL-AMERICAN MUSLIM

A California state senator has questioned whether the Lowe’s department store chain violated anti-discrimination laws when it decided to pull its ads from TLC’S All-American Muslim following a protest campaign by the conservative group Florida Family Assn. The group had called the program, which follows five Muslim families in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, MI, “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” On Sunday, Lowe’s acknowledged that it had pulled its ads from the show in response to the Florida group’s protest and apologize for having “managed to make some people very unhappy.” But the statement fell short of a turnabout, cryptically saying, “We believe it is best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance.” State Senator Ted Lieu fired off a letter to Lowe’s CEO Robert A. Niblock calling the company’s decision “un-American” and “naked religious bigotry.” He noted that the show “touches on the discrimination” that Muslims face in the U.S. “and that kind of discrimination is exactly what’s happening here with Lowe’s.” Lowe’s later released a statement, saying that it wishes to discuss the matter with Sen. Lieu.