oscarnominated actor riz ahmed has called out hollywood for the stereotypical and toxic portrayal of muslim community in its films ahmed who became the first muslim to get a best actor oscar nomination recently launched the initiative the blueprint for muslim inclusion to increase the communitys representation in cinema the initiative was launched in partnership with the usc annenberg inclusion initiative the ford foundation and pillars fund in a video posted on his social media handles ahmed said the problem with muslim misrepresentation is one that cant be ignored any more the 38yearold britishpakistani actor said it was a bittersweet moment for him when he was nominated at the 2021 oscars for his performance in sound of metal i simultaneously wore that slightly dubious accolade with a sense of gratitude personally i also felt tremendous sadness how was it that out of 16 billion people a quarter of the worlds population none of us had ever been in this position until now i asked myself if im the exception to the rule what must the rule be about people like me what must the unwritten rule be about muslims a quarter of the worlds population and their place in our stories our culture and their place in our society if any ahmed said the actor asserted that the problematic portrayal of muslims in cinema is something that cannot be fixed by a handful of prominent muslims in the business the progress thats being made by a few of us doesnt paint an overall picture of progress if most of the portrayals of muslims on screen are either nonexistent or entrenched in those stereotypical toxic twodimensional portrayals he added ahmed singled out oscarwinning movies american sniper the hurt locker and argo as frankly racist these films dehumanise and demonise muslim characters insofar as they are the perpetrators or victims of violence unworthy of empathy or incapable of empathy the actor said similarly he criticised amazons smash hit series the boys it is a show that i loved and binged a very selfaware modern kip show one with a gigantic cast multiracial multispecies but i cant tell you how gutted i was when halfway through that show muslims turn up the first and only time to hijack a plane oh actually they turn up another time in the first series to play super villains whose super power is to suicide bomb people ahmed said such a thing would not happen to any other minority group the actor said citing the example of black panther even a film like black panther one of the most woke progressive mainstream moments in our culture in recent years and muslims turn up in the start of that film as terrorists to kidnap school girls and then disappear he added alongside the release of the blueprint for muslim inclusion a study by the annenberg inclusion initiative titled missing and maligned found that muslims rarely appear on screen or are shown in