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Racism in Egyptian Media: Is Your Favorite Celebrity Racist? (Thread: 1/2)
Let’s explain something clear before we get started. Saying the n word, blackface, making fun of Black people by using stereotypes are all forms of racism. If you don’t know why, use google. If you old enough to be on twitter, you old enough to know why racism is wrong
Racism in Egypt is VERY NORMALIZED. Whether within our own community or immigrants, we hear and see racism through our usage of terms such as “abeed” (slave), “chocolata” and the n word. We also see it through blackface throughout the media
The community doesn’t understand why it’s wrong simply because we a. Normalize it so much and never get penalized and b. No laws or cultural standards enforce how wrong racism is. We can also talk about affects of colonization but that’s a whole other thread
This thread will mention actors, and singers who have done anything racist. Most of them never apologized or even discussed it, but if they have that will be included to. This hopefully will be a start for an overdue discussion on the rooted anti blackness in our culture
Azmi We Ashgan (Series, 2018) This had it ALL, n word, blackface, oof. Let’s talk about how this nonblack girl says that she has a problem with her husband bc he likes “n—-, girls who are REALLY dark” and the other lady looks disgusted and says remarks to emphasize that
THEN in a later episode Amy Samir Ghanam and her father Samir Ghanam both get into blackface and pretend to be Sudanese, develop a dialect, put a fragrance to make her more unappealing.The boss also says in the end “did I get this house for fun or did i buy it to set free slaves”
Also at one point Hassan El Raddad does blackface as a form of disguise to rob a place. You could have done any other disguise and u chose to pretend to be a whole other race??? My man, u a big dumbass
According to AP News, this is what the writer said when the blacklash came. However, black people’s only roles have usually been either janitors or waiters and these aren’t ACTUAL black people, but white people pretending to be black
Let’s now get to a very well known actor, who y’all think is funny but he highkey isn’t, Mohamed Henedy.
In Wesh Egram (Movie, 2006), he also disguises himself as a stereotypically African American (the Afro, the basketball, the American English) So people don’t notice him. Again, out of everything u choose to be a Black person?? They aren’t props or the butt of your joke
The Video: (u can clearly see he ain’t black) in the video the guy who cleans the bike says “if u gonna be black don’t try and fool a black person like me”
Continuing with Henedy in the movie Saeedi fil Gamaa el Amrekeia (1998). The Black girl is portrayed as a prostitute and Henedy says “Why are you turning off the light you are already dark by nature”
Within the same scene, he also says “everyone saw the red night but in the only one that got to see the black one” making it seem that every person who’s Black brings bad luck
In the same movie, they make a whole song singing about “chocolata” in reference to dark skin where in the beginning and end he says “she got darker, she got tanner, she’s burnt like a sweet potato” in reference to their dark skin (YIKES!!)
He also makes a reference to the one white girl in the song and looked happy that she’s there, as if she’s the only pretty, satisfying woman in the whole room
The whole song for y’all
He also calls the girl a “fahiama” and “Fahem” refers to the charcoal you use to barbecue. You do the math
Now with Ahmed Eid, who not only does horrible movies with half of them sexualizing women, he’s also racist. In the movie Africano (2001). He sees a group of Black girls (In Burkina Faso) walking out and Eid states “is there a power outrage in there or what”
In the movie Alb Gare, he finally gets called to act and he is chosen along 3 others to be black faced to play as a slave (mind u the person who is casting them is Black) Eid says he doesn’t want to be a slave “that he has better ambitions” then the casting director...
... replies “what’s wrong with being a slave? U don’t wanna be black, I’m black myself” and then decides for him to be one of the people that carry the king. Take this one to your own interpretation
Next up is another comedian that y’all hype but actually is also trash, Mohamed Saad AKA El Lemby. In the movie Elli Bali Balak (2003), he hugs the Black girl thinking it’s his daughter and after realizing she isn’t he says “well that makes sense I’m white and ur white ...
... we didn’t birth this fig stick” (I’ll post the whole movie bc I can’t screen record it’s at 1:08:00) https://m.ok.ru/video/247433398786
Part 2 of the thread is here:
