Continued insults from the hosts of the Manoto network toward Michael Jackson

On Sunday night, during the program “Befarmayid Shom” broadcast on the “Manoto” network, another insult was once again made by one of the hosts and people involved with this channel toward Michael Jackson.

During this program, one of the participants named Amir, while showing a board of Michael in his home, spoke kindly about this legend and praised his art and humanity. However, Taghrol (voiced by Omid Khalili) mocked him and turned the moment into ridicule. In the end, while referring to false sexual allegations against the King of Pop, he uttered ugly words and slander about Michael Jackson—words we are not able to repeat here.

Over the past few years, the hosts of this network, in different programs and in various ways, have tried to undermine Michael Jackson’s image and ignore his art. From mocking his surgeries to providing incorrect information about the career of this unique artist. It has happened that the hosts have grown uncomfortable or felt upset with some private questions that are asked of them by the public during the program “Answer,” even though they easily sit down to discuss those very same “private” matters about other figures.

We had hoped that the network would put an end to this practice by valuing the voice of our protest and listening to it. We did not want to stop fighting without effort. Especially since, before this, we had achieved victories through the same channel against some other networks—such as the apology issued by the PMC network, or the interesting program that Voice of America aired after Michael’s death. But the major and undeniable insult from two days ago by Omid Khalili, one of the well-known faces of “Manoto,” has led us to feel that this network does not care about the wishes and protests of its audience, and that the “Answer” program is nothing more than a promotional trick.

Until yesterday, we wanted a program worthy of Michael Jackson’s character and art, but unfortunately it seems we must instead demand that this network not mention Michael Jackson at all in its programs, so that fans of the King of Pop are not further saddened.

The question that some of you asked us is: what policy should we adopt against this network from now on?

For the sake of this network’s peace of mind (at least until an official apology), it is possible to boycott it, because unfortunately in every program broadcast on this network—no matter how unrelated it may be to Michael Jackson’s art and music—one can expect harsh words against this great figure.

Friends can continue sending emails and/or calling and leaving their protest messages on the network’s Facebook pages, or contact the “Answer” program directly, even though this program is also run by Omid Khalili.

The signing of the petition is still possible.

In closing, let us just point out that a long time has passed since the very beautiful documentary of the Iran Farda network (Chamta) about Michael Jackson. Let’s watch it again and think about the difference between a network that feels responsible to its audience and the other networks—from earth to heaven.