Guantánamo Bay prisoners just can't get enough of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air for some reason

By Sean O'Neal | August 9, 2012 | 9:55pm

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According to a report in the Miami Herald, the 168 captives currently doing indefinite time in Guantánamo Bay have adopted The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air as the most popular form of entertainment at the prison, with the 1990s Will Smith sitcom supplanting both "reading Harry Potter" and "cowering in a corner, hoping not to be tortured." Although the library boasts access to some 28,000 videos and books, the prison's librarian says that these days he can barely keep Bel-Air on the shelves, recently ordering all six seasons of the series to meet the high demand for the adventures of the West Philadelphia kid who—much like the prisoners' bunks and occasionally their bodies—finds his life flipped turned upside down.

As to what's behind the sudden surge of interest, the prisoners' reported previous fascination with The Cosby Show suggests that interred Islamic extremists maybe have some strange affinity for aspirational stories of blacks living in tastefully appointed homes and getting into conflicts that do not end with someone exploding. And after all, much like Will, most at Guantánamo found themselves sent away to live somewhere else after getting in one little, decades-long fight. But beyond that, there isn't much explanation. It is possible, however, that everyone, no matter their language or creed, just enjoys seeing Jazzy Jeff repeatedly tossed out on his ass. (Is it also possible that "Jazzy" means "Jew" in Arabic?)