Showtime Announces New Cable Series Featuring a Gay Muslim

Oh yeah! We can hardly wait! This will be great fun to watch! No. Not the TV series, but the predictable reaction from an “offended” Muslim community along with all the inevitable ass-kissing by Showtime executives as their rainbow colored bubble is popped by the prick that is Islam: [ Haaz Sleiman ] Showtime orders new shows with gay content by Michael Jensen, Editor July 21, 2008 – After Elton During Friday’s Television Critics Association conference in Los Angeles, Robert Greenblatt, President of Entertainment for Showtime announced the cable network was ordering two pilots to series, both with significant gay content. The first announced was the tentatively titled thirty minute dark comedy Nurse Jackie, starring The Sopranos’ Edie Falco as an iconoclastic, opinionated, self-medicating nurse in New York City. The show also features Haaz Sleiman playing Maurice, a gay Muslim who is one of Jackie’s co-workers and best friends. Regarding the role of Maurice, Greenblatt told AfterElton.com, “He’s a great character. He’s one of the six main characters … a fellow male nurse and is a really good friend of Edie’s character, Jackie.” [...] When asked if Maurice was originally written as a gay Muslim character – something still of a novelty for American television – or was something the network suggested, Greenblatt said, “He was a gay Muslim character [from the start]. We had to find an actor to play that, but it’s not the largest talent pool. We found Haaz Sleiman. He’s a terrific actor.” The Lebanese-born Sleiman has had roles on 24, ER, Veronica Mars and most recently had a major part in The Visitor, an independent film starring Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under). However, gay viewers might also recognize Sleiman from Maurice Jamal’s The Ski Trip where he had a small part as Tyson, the muscle-bound date of one of the lead characters. When Nurse Jackie debuts (reportedly in the first half of 2009) the character of Maurice will likely be the only gay character of Middle Eastern descent currently on the air and one of the few to have ever been portrayed on television. Past Middle Eastern characters include Kenny (Rami Malek) from The War at Home, Vince Taylor (Anthony Azizi) from Commander in Chief, and Salim (Omid Abtahi) from Sleeper Cell (which also aired on Showtime). http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/showtime-announces-new-cable-series-featuring-a-gay-muslim/