Egyptian actor Mohamed Emam ignites controversy after greeting Palestine in Riyadh
Egyptian actor Mohamed Imam caused a great reaction when he, along with his brother, director Rami Emam, received an award honoring their father, the artist Adel Imam, for his entire artistic career, from the management of the Joy Awards Festival, the day before yesterday, Saturday, as part of the activities of the 2024 Riyadh season.
While Muhammad Imam was on stage with his brother and giving his speech, he was alone from all the Arab and international stars present by saluting the Palestinian people and declaring his support for them in the face of the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the people of the Gaza Strip, which has been ongoing for more than 100 days.
Muhammad Imam said after his greeting to the Saudi people, and his focus on the importance of Egyptian art: “A final word I want to say that may remain outside the scope of today’s ceremony. My greetings to the heroic Palestinian people. You are in our hearts and we will never forget you.”
The greeting ignited a wave of controversy among critics who saw it as going beyond the script of all those present who praised the Chairman of the Entertainment Authority, Turki Al-Sheikh, and ignored the tragedy of the Gaza Strip and the massacres of the Israeli occupation in a remarkable consensus, which some went on to justify with unannounced directives from the concert organizers, which resulted in campaigns on social media sites to attack him.
As for the supporters, they saw that Muhammad Imam made a kind gesture in a large event that received a lot of media coverage, coinciding with a restriction on Palestinian content on social media sites, and a decline in the interest of some Arab media outlets in it.
Writer Yasser Al-Zaatara praised Imam’s position, saying: “Muhammad Adel Imam greets our Palestinian people in Riyadh. A few words he said at an artistic celebration: Greetings to the heroic Palestinian people… You are in our hearts and we will never forget you. What concerns us is that these words were enough to provoke an attack.” “My fly is on him. Here is the dilemma, not the words. A phenomenon that will not make us doubt the conscience of our people.”
Academic Ammar Ali Hassan wrote: “Insults rained down on the actor Muhammad Imam’s head like spray, for defending the Palestinian people from an artistic podium in Riyadh, but they were worth nothing in the gratitude that poured down on him like generous, forgiving rain. This is the outcome of what I saw on social media.”
He continued: “I think that the overwhelming majority of the brotherly Saudi people support what Imam said, relying on what an opinion poll conducted a month ago showed that 96 percent of them reject Israel’s war on Gaza. Here the fundamental question arises: How can a path of modernization or enlightenment be built, or even An interest in art, as they say, without belief that all of this can only exist with freedom of thought, expression, and management, as well as pluralism, and above all, bias toward the truth.”
Muhammad Imam and the “electronic flies”
Blogger Zenobia agreed with him in noting that an imam was subjected to attacks by electronic flies, and expressed her astonishment at this attack simply for praising the Palestinian people.
Ahmed Abu Al-Enein asked: “There was a fierce campaign yesterday against the star, Muhammad Adel Imam, after honoring his father, leader Adel Imam, and after his speech at the Joy Awards 2024 ceremony, in which he thanked the Saudi people, praised Egyptian art, and saluted the Palestinian people. Is there anything in the speech that requires all This attack?
A few days ago, while going to Riyadh, Imam posted a picture of himself on one of the private planes and asked his followers on his social media accounts to wait for a surprise. He said: “To Riyadh to attend the Joy Awards party for the first time. Wait for a surprise, God willing.”
Imam’s position was reminiscent of a similar position by his colleague Muhammad Salam more than a month ago, when he posted a video on his accounts, in which he announced his withdrawal from a play within the Riyadh Season activities in solidarity with the people of Gaza against the Israeli aggression, which caused widespread controversy at the time between supporters and opponents, and then the situation developed later. Bayoumi Fouad came out, defending his failure to withdraw, in a speech on stage that many considered a criticism of Salam, and resulted in campaigns demanding a boycott of his works.
