News Digest

Homeland hacked: Hit TV drama branded racist in graffiti used on set

A group of artists tricked producers of TV series Homeland by branding it racist in graffiti they were asked to create on the set. The three Arab artists said they were asked by the production company to create authentic-looking graffiti for a Syrian refugee camp set, which was built in Germany. However, the group decided to use the opportunity to air their grievances about the show’s political message and “thinly veiled propaganda”. Producers were too busy to notice that the Arabic writing they daubed said “Homeland is racist” and “There is no Homeland”.

It was our moment to make our point by subverting the message using the show itself.

Artist Heba Amin

Some viewers have complained in the past about the Emmy-winning show’s stereotypical depictions of the Lebanese capital Beirut and Pakistan capital Islamabad. The graffiti can be seen in the second episode of the fifth series, which stars Claire Danes as former CIA agent Carrie Mathison and aired in the US on 11 October and is due to air in Britain on Sunday. Artist Heba Amin called the show one of the most bigoted on TV. Other phrases which were used included “Homeland is NOT a series” and “Homeland is watermelon”.

In their eyes, Arabic script is merely a supplementary visual that completes the horror-fantasy of the Middle East, a poster image dehumanising an entire region to human-less figures in black burkas

Heba Amin