Ban the airing of "My Big Fat Gypsy Weddig".

This petition is intended to ensure that the state media authority of North Rhine-Westphalia bans the TV station TLC of the Discovery Group from broadcasting the series "My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding" and "My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding" (MBFGW).

If the state media authority of North Rhine-Westphalia fails, we will contact the courts and public prosecutors.

We do the same in all broadcast areas.

During the ongoing petition until April 8th, 2022, Mr. Knudsen, as chairman of the Roma Educational Association in Hamburg and Secretary General of RomaNation.org, will try to talk to those responsible at TLC Germany about the antiziganist program MBFGW in order to stop this program forever . The aim is to prevent the worldwide broadcast in order not to encourage any further antiziganism and not to reproduce traditional prejudices.

The problem:

First of all, the term "gypsy" should be rejected, it is nothing more than the translated word "gypsy", which is no longer tolerated in German usage. Roma and Sinti civil rights movements in Germany have been fighting for this for decades. During the National Socialist period, up to 1.5 million Roma, including up to 500,000 Sinti, were genocided in Europe, which culminated in the Holocaust. Roma and Sinti were criminalized as "gypsies", dehumanized and made into "dragging crooks". This is conveyed by this term, no matter what language it is translated into.

Unfortunately, it is a fact that the term antiziganism in the native language is only used in German-speaking countries and is beginning to find its way into Europe as well.

An example to explain the term antiziganism: If antisemitism describes hostility towards the Jewish people, antiziganism describes hostility towards the Roma people.

In British and American the term is: "Antigypsyism"

Other aspects of those affected:

“Both the British original and American versions of the series have faced a range of controversies, including allegations of racism in advertising and causing racial bullying and promoting antigypsyism.

The Roma community has criticized the series for misrepresenting the ethnic minority with non-Roma characters posing as "Gypsies", with Billy Welch - a Roma spokesman - stating:

"They called the show 'Big Fat Gypsy Wedding' and they haven't seen a Roma in it yet."

The American version of the series has drawn controversy and criticism from American Roma and from journalists and activists working on minority rights and antigypsyism. They claimed the series was "wildly misleading," cultivated racist and antigypsy stereotypes, and misrepresented and negatively portrayed the American Romani community, thereby feeding societal antigypsyism.

Roma Education Association in Hamburg e.V. (www.RomaEdu.org)

Roma Basics - International Series: Smarter in 100 Seconds in 26 Languages ​​(https://100.RomaEdu.org)