Somalis seek boycott of 'Black Hawk Down'

Somalis seek boycottof 'Black Hawk Down'
MINNEAPOLIS -- Local Somali leaders called Thursday for a boycott of the movie "Black Hawk Down" because it depicts Somalis as savages and could create a backlash against refugees who fled to the United States.
"We don't know what Americans will think of us Somalis after they watch this movie," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul. Somali groups in Columbus and Boston also planned to seek a boycott, he said.
"Black Hawk Down," which went into wide release Friday, portrays the 1993 firefight in Somalia that left 18 American soldiers dead and more than 70 wounded. The military mission to Mogadishu was to capture two top lieutenants of warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
Mavericks ownerdoes Dairy Queen stint
COPPELL, Texas -- Trying desperately to perfect the curly tip on a soft-serve cone, Mark Cuban licked the remains of another failed effort from his fingertips and handed the messy treat to an anxious 3-year-old boy.
One lick later, the kid dropped it.
That was about the only thing that went wrong Wednesday when the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks worked two hours behind a Dairy Queen counter, making good on a promise to manage the fast-food restaurant. The company's offer came in response to Cuban's assertion that he wouldn't hire Ed Rush, the NBA's head of officiating, "to manage a Dairy Queen."
The league fined Cuban $500,000 for the comment, a record punishment for an individual. For about $650,000, Cuban could have bought a start-up DQ franchise.
Celebs to attendbenefit for hurt reader
NEW YORK -- Stephen King, John Grisham and Pat Conroy will be among those appearing next month at a benefit for Frank Muller, an award-winning audio book reader severely injured in a motorcycle crash in November.
The benefit will be held Feb. 2 at Town Hall in Manhattan.
Muller's audio book credits include everything from works by King and John le Carre to Shakespeare and Herman Melville.
Today's Birthdays
Actress Jean Stapleton is 79. Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 60. Actress Shelley Fabares is 58. Singer Dolly Parton is 56. Singer Robert Palmer is 53. Actress Katey Sagal is 46. Tennis player Stefan Edberg is 36.