Ben Shapiro’s upcoming film Run Hide Fight: Infidels has drawn criticism over its portrayal of Muslims and its use of contemporary political imagery. The Daily Wire-backed action thriller is a follow-up to 2020’s Run Hide Fight and stars Jonathan Majors as Clayton Saunders, a retired Delta Force veteran who becomes involved when armed terrorists take over a college campus.
The controversy surrounding the film has intensified following an opinion piece by CAIR-LA communications manager Enjy El-Kadi, published by Al Jazeera, which argued that the film revisits stereotypes Hollywood has repeatedly used when depicting Arab and Muslim characters.
Why Run Hide Fight: Infidels Is Being Criticized
According to the official information released by The Daily Wire [The Daily Wire], Run Hide Fight: Infidels follows a scenario in which “radical Islamic terrorists” take control of a pro-Palestine encampment on a liberal college campus and impose what the film describes as a “makeshift caliphate.”
Shapiro defended the project in a Daily Wire post, claiming Hollywood had avoided making major films featuring Islamist extremists as villains for decades.
“For decades, Hollywood has not made a single major film where the bad guys were Islamists,”
he wrote.
El-Kadi strongly disputed that argument, pointing to decades of Hollywood productions in which Arab or Muslim characters were associated with terrorism and extremism. Her argument referenced the work of scholar Jack Shaheen, whose research examined more than 900 films featuring Arab characters and documented recurring negative stereotypes.
Films such as True Lies, Executive Decision, The Siege, and Rules of Engagement are among the major productions frequently discussed in debates about Hollywood’s portrayal of Arab and Muslim communities.
The Debate Over Muslim Representation in Hollywood
The trailer for Run Hide Fight: Infidels also connects real-world campus protests with imagery associated with ISIS and the September 11 attacks. Critics argue that this approach turns political activism into part of a fictional terrorism narrative, while supporters of the film see it as a provocative exploration of Islamist extremism.
The controversy arrives after recent years have produced more varied Muslim characters on television. Hulu’s Ramy, for example, follows an Egyptian-American Muslim navigating faith, family, relationships, and modern American life, while Netflix’s Mo has also brought a more personal and character-driven perspective to Arab-American experiences.
Whether Run Hide Fight: Infidels ultimately changes Hollywood’s conversation about Muslim representation remains to be seen. However, its trailer has already positioned the film at the center of a wider culture-war debate, with critics questioning whether its story presents a genuinely new perspective or revives familiar stereotypes in a contemporary political setting.
