Samsung drag queen advert pulled after backlash from public

Samsung has pulled a new advert showing a Muslim mother expressing support for her drag queen son after backlash from some parts of the Muslim community. The Samsung drag queen advert was taken down after some social media users alleged it was “an attempt to push LGBT ideology”.
Samsung wrote in a Facebook post that it was aware that the video “may be perceived as insensitive and offensive”. The Samsung drag queen advert was meant to promote the company’s new wearable products, like noise-cancelling earbuds and a smartwatch with a heart rate monitor.
It filmed several participants’ reactions as they listened to heartfelt recorded messages from their loved ones. One of the pairs of participants featured a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf as she heard a message from her son, who was a drag performer. “You are just unbothered having people looking or judging you differently, having a son that does drag,” he tells her in his message.
The scene caused some parts of the Muslim community in Singapore to lash out, saying that it was insensitive to religion. “We are against the ideology of mainstreaming homosexuality and transgenderism into a conservative society,” one user Syed Dan wrote on Facebook.
“It disrupts the harmony within the Malay-Muslim community.”
Another user, Muhammed Zuhaili, posted that the video had “surfaced much confusion and questions amongst the (Muslim) community”.
The South Korean tech giant later scrubbed the video from all its public platforms. “We acknowledge that we have fallen short in this instance,” the company wrote in a Facebook post, as reported by BBC News.
However, other social media users came out in support of the Samsung drag queen advert, questioning the controversy that surrounded it.
“Imagine being offended and threatened by a mother’s love for her child,” wrote one Instagram user.
Others criticised Samsung’s decision to pull the ad, pointing out that it contradicted its statement that “innovation and growth are driven by diversity and inclusivity”. Members of the local LGBTQ community similarly expressed their disappointment at the ad being taken down.
“It was the first of its kind video coming from a minority group on a relationship between mother and son [and] was so affirming,” Hilmi, a centre manager at local LGBTQ+ organization Oogachaga told BBC News.
“As a queer Malay man, I am saddened to see a video that expresses unconditional love [being] taken down abruptly due to societal pressure from a group of people with conservative values.”

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