Couric: America Needs Muslim 'Cosby Show'
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Are TV audiences ready for a new kind of "American Dad"? Katie Couric thinks so.
In her webcast review of the top trends of 2010, the CBS Evening News anchor suggested a possible solution to what she termed the "seething hatred" facing Muslims in America: a prime-time situation comedy.
Couric, joined by Politico's Jonathan Martin, comedian Mo Rocca and Sheryl Huggins-Salomon of theroot.com, mused that the controversy surrounding the proposed mosque near the World Trade Center site in New York City might be quelled by "careful analysis and evaluation" of why a majority of Americans remain opposed to the mosque.
When Rocca stated his failure to name "five things about Islam," Couric replied, "Maybe we need a Muslim version of The Cosby Show."
"I know that sounds crazy, I know that sounds crazy," she continued. "But The Cosby Show did so much to change attitudes about African-Americans in this country, and I think sometimes people are afraid of what they don't understand."
Click here to watch the show in its entirety.
Couric has previously spoken out against the controversy over the mosque at Ground Zero, saying earlier this year, "There is a debate to be had about the sensitivity of building this center so close to Ground Zero. But we can not let fear and rage tear down the towers of our core American values."
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