If death threats to comedians are badges of honor, Nasser Al Qasabi deserves a medal of valor. Mocking Isis may have become a little passé as of late, but that doesn't mean the Islamic State isn't taking careful notes of the jokes being made by their detractors. Just ask Qasabi, a Saudi comedian who was made Target #1 overnight by the extremist group when he poked fun at them in an episode of his sketch series, Selfie. In the sketch in question, Qasabi plays a character who watches a group of Syrian rebels choose slave wives from a "girl market." One of the fighters mistakenly chooses a mustachioed man who was dressed in a woman's robe to avoid being killed by the rebel group. When this egregious error in physical judgments is pointed out by a fellow rebel, the other sticks to his decision, remarking that "If he's an infidel, he deserves this." It's your typical, run-of-the-mill, cross-dressing, terrorist-avoidance mix-up skewered on a sketch comedy show. What's the big deal? Well, the tweets came in hard and fast, with most demanding that someone (anyone besides themselves, apparently) decapitate the funnyman. Similar sentiments flooded Qasabi's account, both publicly and privately. But the comedian was undeterred, asking people to "calm down" and maintained that he would continue fighting against Isis with art instead of war.
