Snoop Dogg music video sparks legal battle with India religious group

MUMBAI, India – A music video featuring the rapper Snoop Dogg and an Iranian pop singer has become the subject of a legal battle in India, where members of the Parsi community say it should be banned because it demeans their Zoroastrian religion.

The 3 1/2-minute video for the song “King,” released on YouTube last month, shows Snoop Dogg smoking weed while sitting on a throne topped by a giant gold Faravahar, the winged disc that is among the most revered symbols of Zoroastrianism.

The rest of the video features Iranian-born Amitis Moghaddam – dressed as an ancient Persian queen, lying beneath a Faravahar and being fanned by two negligibly clothed men – interspersed with scenes of women pole-dancing.

A Parsi civic organization has filed suit against Snoop Dogg, Moghaddam, YouTube and other defendants in the eastern city of Kolkata, saying the video is “insensitive towards the religious beliefs of one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world.”

The public-interest lawsuit is also rooted in a sense of deep unease among the Parsi community, one of India’s smallest religious minorities, whose numbers have been declining for decades.

Descendants of Persians who fled religious persecution in Iran more than 1,000 years ago, Parsis have long held outsize influence in Indian cities such as Mumbai, the financial capital, where they built hospitals, universities and the city’s first port.

India has the world’s largest population of Parsis, but while they numbered 115,000 in the 1940s, by 2001, the most recent year for which official statistics are available, the community had shrunk to 69,000.

Parsis prohibit conversion to Zoroastrianism, and due to their economic success, many are waiting longer to marry and have children, reducing their fertility rates. The Indian government started a campaign to encourage Parsis to procreate, including ads in Parsi publications with half-joking messages such as: “Be responsible. Don’t use a condom tonight.”

“Parsis for the first time have started to feel insecure as none care for their religious beliefs due to their dwindling numbers,” Phiroze Edulji, attorney for the plaintiffs in the music video case, wrote in the lawsuit.

The plaintiff, Darayas Jamshed Bapooji, president of the Parsi Zoroastrian Association of Kolkata, said in an interview that he was seeking for the video to be pulled from YouTube. The lawsuit also names the Indian government and the music video hosting companies Vevo and Vydia as respondents.

“We being such a small community, our heritage should not be looked down upon,” Bapooji said in an interview. “We are very proud people, we take pride in our religion and we cannot afford for anyone to do such things.”

Zoroastrians trace their faith to the Bronze Age prophet Zoroaster and worship fire as a symbol of God. The Faravahar represents the eternal spirit of the human being and features three layers of feathers, two streamers for the duality of good and evil, and the left-facing head of a man, Zoroaster.

Moghaddam, who performs under her first name, Amitis, lives in the Atlanta area but sings most of her songs in Farsi. As a native Iranian, she should have known the video would be offensive, Bapooji said.

“It was done on purpose, we feel,” Bapooji said. “She should be very much aware of what is what, even if Snoop Dogg wasn’t.”

The video has hardly been a YouTube smash. Since being released June 1, it had less than 82,000 views as of Monday morning. The video for “California Roll,” by Snoop Dogg with Stevie Wonder and Pharrell Williams, published May 20, has been seen more than 7.3 million times.

A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 17.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Guilty: Jury convicts Bothell man in long-unsolved 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.