Homer Goes To Mecca

The Simpsons, the highly irreverant (and very funny) Fox cartoon series, is being exported to the Middle East. As you can imagine, there will have to be changes. The show, now known as Al Shamshoon, will feature Omar and Badr (Homer and Bart). And that's not all that's changing:

"Translating the show linguistically, as well as culturally, as well as socially so that it appeals to the audience that's watching it here, I think there's a lot of details that one has to pay attention to," said Nadia Rahman, a professor at the Zayed University Media Center in the United Arab Emirates. "How does the mother dress? How does the sister dress?"

So MBC is making some changes as the characters go from American to Arab. They will remove references to things forbidden by the Koran, such as bacon, beer and other references that might be construed as offensive.

Homer Simpson's ubiquitous Duff beer will now be soda (Mecca Cola, I assume-HC) in the Arab version of the show.

Hot dogs will become Egyptian beef sausages, and donuts will become popular Arab cookies called "kahk." Moe's Bar has been completely written out of "Al Shamshoon."

With characters who are Jewish (like Krusty the Clown), Hindu (like Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu) and Christian (like the family's pastor, Rev. Lovejoy), Al Jean — "The Simpsons" executive producer — says those changes mean they aren't "The Simpsons" anymore.

"If he doesn't drink and eat bacon and generally act like a pig — which I guess is also against Islam — then it's not Homer," Jean said.

I just have one question, when Bart (or Badr) says "Eat my shorts!"...can you eat shorts if you're a Muslim?

And I can just imagine what the dialogue might be like. In an episode in which Omar decides to get even with the infidel Mr. Burns by blowing himself up in the nuke plant:

OMAR: (to himself) Hmmmm virgins.