An ISIS-themed gay party held Friday is facing backlash because … the event was ISIS-themed. In one particularly inflammatory image, two hunky, toga-clad men (theme much?) appear to be reenacting a scene from the video showing the beheading of American journalist Jim Foley.
On Facebook, party organizer Drek has the image of a shirtless, speedo-clad man flying the Black Standard flag as the event’s cover photo. The image even more reminiscent of the beheading videos, however, was apparently removed.
The party was called “Drekistan at the Haoman,” adopting a highly original play on the Persian suffix meaning “country” and referring to the Tel Aviv nightclub where it was held. According to a Ynet, an Israeli news site, the promotional text for the event read that, “as the new Islamic State gains traction in the Middle East, we at Drek have decided to give in to Sharia law and cheer the stubborn Daesh.” (Daesh, of course, is the acronym for al-Dawla al-Islamiya fi Iraq wa ash-Sham, the group’s Arabic name.)
The Hebrew-speakers at Ynet also note that the word Drek used for “stubborn” can also mean “hard-necked,” which, if intentional, is a very poor pun about a group that carries out frightening beheadings.
One of Drek’s founders called the ad campaign satire, showing a poor grasp of the word’s meaning. “We are trying to react to current events. We have been doing it for a number of years,” said Amiri Kalman. “But we reject violence in any form and that includes the [execution] videos intended to scare the world.”
It’s worth noting: “Drek” is Yiddish for “trash.”
