Peppa Pig is seen as an insult to some

The little pink cartoon character Peppa Pig may seem innocuous enough…

But a small group of people are mounting an online campaign to have the animated farm animal booted off television screens.

Why? Well, according to campaigners, the cartoon character is an ‘insult to Islam’.

While initially sceptical about the boycott (why would anyone hate Peppa Pig?), the group actually does seem pretty serious about their dislike of the smiling cartoon.


A Facebook page ‘Muslims against Peppa Pig’ already has nearly 2,500 followers after being created on August 23, just two weeks ago.

There is also an online petition on Change.org to help get the pig thrown off the cartoon circuit.



This is of course not a commonly-held view in the Muslim community and Islamic charities have been quick to dismiss the campaign, calling the pig non-offensive.

A spokesperson for The Muslim Council of Britain said: ‘The majority of mainstream Muslims would not find Peppa Pig offensive, and anecdotally we know of many Muslim children who watch the show for its entertainment value. Those who do have issues with this can simply refrain from watching the show and purchasing Peppa Pig memorabilia.’

Peppa pig (Picture: Facebook)

The ban Peppa Pig campaign appears to have been started by Zayn Sheikh, from Bradford, after he found his youngest child Abdullah watching the ‘abominable creature’.

He was even more disgusted when the child informed him he no longer wanted to be a doctor, but instead wanted to be a pig.

In a video uploaded to the Facebook page, Mr Sheikh explains: ‘For us Muslims it is very important that we do not eat meat of the pork.

‘It is completely wrong that our kids are being shown these things on TV.’

Mr Sheikh instead proposes replacing the pig with an ‘Abdullah the cat’ cartoon.

He said: ‘Children still need cartoons to develop their minds. I propose we introduce Abdullah the cat. I think that if we had a good Muslim cartoon then our children would be better Muslims.’

Abdullah the cat (Picture: Facebook)

Mr Sheikh has since released a video saying that the video was a hoax and his comments intended as satire.

‘The last video I made was a parody, was a joke,’ he says.

‘I am not against any race, religion or ethnicity. I speak out against discrimination wherever I come across it.

‘At the end of the day whatever is going on in the rest of the world is not to do with us regular Muslims in the UK because we are just like any other people.’