Action figures for Django Unchained draw protest
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Community activist Najee Ali holds an action figure depicting Calvin Candie, Leonardo DiCaprio's character from the Quentin Tarantino film "Django Unchained", during a news conference Tuesday Jan. 8, 2013 in Los Angeles. -- PHOTO: AP
(AP) - Slavery-era action figures tied to Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained are raising questions about whether they're appropriate.
A line of figures of the movie's main characters are on sale online, manufactured by toy maker NECA in partnership with the Weinstein Co.
Mr Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, plans a news conference on Tuesday with other Los Angeles black community leaders calling for the removal of the toys from the market. Mr Ali called the action figures "a slap in the face of our ancestors."
"We were outraged," said Ali, upon learning of the figures. "We feel that it trivialises the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced."
