{"id":11101,"date":"2013-01-16T14:35:21","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T19:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=11101"},"modified":"2013-01-16T17:51:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-16T22:51:48","slug":"neca-toys-on-conan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2013\/01\/neca-toys-on-conan\/","title":{"rendered":"NECA toys on Conan"},"content":{"rendered":"

(That's talkshow host Conan O'Brien, not this Conan<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

In case you hadn't heard, black leaders are calling for a boycott of NECA. Here's a story from the Associated Press<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Slavery-era action figures tied to Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained<\/i> are raising questions about whether they're appropriate.<\/p>\n

A line of figures of the movie's main characters are on sale online, manufactured by toymaker NECA in partnership with the Weinstein Co.<\/p>\n

Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, plans a news conference Tuesday with other Los Angeles black community leaders calling for the removal of the toys from the market.<\/p>\n

Ali called the action figures \"a slap in the face of our ancestors.\"<\/p>\n

\"We were outraged,\" said Ali, upon learning of the figures. \"We feel that it trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced.\"<\/p>\n

The action figures are collectibles recommended for people older than 17. Tarantino has had such figures made for all of his films, including his last, Inglourious Basterds<\/i>. That film, too, reveled in a revenge fantasy set in history - Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n

The Weinstein Co. and NECA didn't immediately comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Ali made clear his objections were not with the film Django Unchained<\/i>, which he said he liked and had seen twice.<\/p>\n

Though controversial in its unusual melding of historical atrocity and movie mayhem, Django Unchained<\/i> has proven a hit at the box office, where it has earned $106.3 million since opening Christmas. It's also been nominated for five Golden Globes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, if you're as startlingly white as we are, you may not see the problem with the toys - especially from a spokesman who clearly said that he liked the movie. But last night on Conan<\/i><\/a>, writer Deon Cole helped lay it out for us:<\/p>\n