An Unlikely Weapon in the Fight Against ISIS
— -- Comedian and YouTube star Humza Arshad is combating ISIS with comedy.
It all began with a camera and a vision back in 2010 when Arshad started making YouTube videos in his bedroom. His first video, "Diary of a Badman," was viewed more than 1 million times in just the first 10 days. From there, his web series was born.
"When I made that series, I started other projects and started working on my channel and then my manager found me. I had a team. I had agents and it just grew," Arshad told ABC’s Chief Business and Economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis.
Sixty-five million views later, Arshad’s YouTube channel, Humza Productions, has quickly become one of the most popular among UK youth. In the self-deprecating videos, the British Muslim regularly jokes about his family and Jihadi extremists.
“When I started doing this I didn’t want to make pointless comedy. I wanted to do things that would make people think. Especially with 'Diary of Badman' series, I would always have a message at the end,” Arshad said.
In “Diary of a Badman,” nothing’s off limits.
Arshad regularly takes on serious and sensitive subjects, like gang violence and domestic abuse. About two years ago, his unique take on comedy caught the attention of the UK’s Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Unit, who asked the comedian to collaborate on an anti-radicalism, anti-Jihadi extremism tour.
“[UK Metropolitan Police Counterterrorism Unit] knew that all of the youngsters in the UK watch my videos now and they knew what I was about. They just wanted to stop these young kids from jumping into extremism,” said Arshad.
Arshad and the British police made a video entitled “Think for Yourself” with Arshad in character as “Badman” trying to stop his cousin from joining extremists. From there, they began a tour of 60 schools and colleges in London, encouraging kids not to be swayed by propaganda.
“I think we reached maybe 25,000 young people and we just went around schools and spoke to them, not only giving the youngsters someone to talk to if they have any concerns or any thoughts… but also spreading the message that as Muslims we don’t believe in violence and that Islam is a peaceful religion," he said.
While most would shy away from such a serious topic, Arshad believes it is his responsibility, as a Muslim role model, to help keep kids stay safe and out of extremism while spreading a message of positivity.
“The fact is I’m not a perfect human being…but I have to be the best I can be…and even though it’s a very serious issue," he noted. "I think for me to still go out there and just say I genuinely believe it’s something I need to do, it’s like a responsibility, as just a decent human being to just give back to the community and do something and be proud of in later years.”
