State Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami Shores, has been inadvertently caught up in the ongoing controversy over the decision by home improvement giant Lowe’s to pull advertising from the TLC show All-American Muslim, a decision made due to pressure from the Tampa-based Florida Family Association.
After the move by Lowe’s, hackers associated with the group Anonymous targeted the website of the Florida Family Association, which had petitioned its supporters to call on companies that advertise during All-American Muslim to pull out of their advertising contracts.
On Monday, a hacker with the Twitter handle @ihazcAnNONz uploaded a list of the Florida Family Association’s email subscribers, a list that includes at least three accounts associated with state Rep. Campbell. Two of those email addresses were used during Campbell’s campaign for District 108.
But rather than lend her support to the Florida Family Association cause, Campbell says she had no idea she was on the subscription list and isn’t sure how she came to receive the group’s emails, according to an aide.
Lawmakers in other parts of the country have blasted Lowe’s (the only company to publicly comment on its ad removal), arguing that the decision to pull ads from All-American Muslim is “bigoted” and irresponsible. Some groups, like People for the American Way, have called for a boycott of the home improvement company.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the controversy surrounding the show, it appears that advertising spots for All-American Muslim are becoming a hot commodity. Just yesterday, music and fashion mogul Russell Simmons tweeted that he had purchased the show’s remaining ad spots.
