Riyadh, July 27: A campaign calling for a boycott of the Lebanese television channel LBC got underway in Saudi Arabia following the telecast of a controversial show.
While appearing on The Bold Red Line, a Lebanese television programme, last week, Jeddah resident Mazen Abdul Jawad detailed his sexual exploits, beginning with when he had sex with a neighbour at the age of 14.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese channel announced it would discontinue the programme.
Hundreds of Saudis, through their websites, made a call to others to stop watching the channel.
The campaign, entitled “Isolation would make it good-mannered,” found fault with the channel for exploiting the gullibility of some young Saudi men and women and thus inflicting irreparable damage to the image of Saudi Arabia.
A Jeddah court is examining a case filed by about 100 Saudi citizens against Abdul Jawad for bragging about his sex life on the popular television channel.
Head of the court Shaikh Al Othaim said that summons will be sent to all those involved in airing the programme.
Speaking to Al Watan daily, an official at the media and public relations department at LBC said that the channel has stopped the controversial programme for now.
“This was part of the current season programmes that will be replaced by programmes meant for the holy fasting month of Ramadan,” the official said, adding that LBC is not sure whether the programme would be resumed after Ramadan.
In another development, Abdul Jawad apologised for his actions.
Speaking to Okaz daily, he said that the channel took only five per cent of the interview and omitted 95 per cent of what he had said.
“They violated the promise to show me the draft of the interview before airing it. I waited for months but in vain. Then I thought they would have dropped the plan to telecast it,” he said.
-Agencies