Oliver Stone’s Son Converts to Islam
Image by Getty Images
In what sounds like a plot twist from one of his famous father’s films, 27-year-old Sean Stone — Oliver’s offspring — has reportedly converted to Islam on a trip to Iran.
According to the Tehran Times, the younger Stone, himself an aspiring director, underwent the conversion while attending the 30th Fajr International Film Festival, which ended Sunday. “Stone said he had become a Shia Muslim and had chosen the name Ali,” the paper said.
“The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,” Stone fils told Agence France-Presse by phone from the Iranian city of Isfahan. “It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets.”
Sean — or Ali — has already shown a penchant for angering conservatives just like his father, according to the New York Daily News. In an interview last September, he drew criticism for remarks defending Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and that country’s right to build nuclear missiles.
“[Ahmadinejad] did come to America to extend a hand. And there’s a lot of mistranslation, literally, I’ve seen it. Ahmadinejad will say something and it will be mistranslated,” Stone said at the time. “A lot of this is bull—, mistranslation. It’s an aggressive attitude on both parts, mostly on the American side.”
There has yet to be any public reaction from Stone’s father, who is half-Jewish by birth and currently a Buddhist. Sean Stone’s mother is Christian, the Daily News said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
