Understanding Racial Issues through the Lens of Muslim American Stand-up Comedy:

Abstract

Following the 9/11 attacks in the United States, a hatred gap developed between Americans and Muslims in the United States. Many Muslim stand-up comedians began their efforts to reduce tensions by performing comedic acts and writing comedy movie plays. In addition, Muslim comedians reduce the impact of Islamophobia in the world by minimizing harmful social racism between Muslims and the rest of the world. The study‘s goal is to look into Muslim comedians‘ roles in their stand-up comedy videos. This research is a qualitative content analysis of comments on videos by two Muslim American comedians from the United States, Dean Obeidallah and Ahmed Ahmed. Muslim comedians play an important role in helping the Muslim community cope with the effects of prejudice. The study also examines whether Muslim stand-up comedians help to reduce stereotypes and negative remarks about Muslim identity around the world. It is found that humor has aided in reassuring audiences that Arabs and Muslims are not unpatriotic or hateful to the United States or the rest of the world.