The Egyptian actor, Khaled Sarhan, caused a sensation among the pioneers of social networking sites after he imitated a picture that his colleague, Mohamed Ramadan, had published.
In his sarcastic way, Sarhan appeared sitting inside a microbus, with a few pounds scattered on worn and torn chairs next to him. A look of “exhaustion and misery” appeared on Sirhan’s face.
The Egyptian actor published the photo on his Facebook account without any comment, but it garnered a wide interaction and won the admiration of many who praised the realism of the scene he performed in response to Ramadan’s “provocative behavior,” according to their description.
Ramadan had published a picture of him sitting inside a private plane, and next to him were bundles of US dollars.
And while the signs of sadness and oppression were evident in the sarcastic shot presented by Sarhan, Ramadan appeared in a picture in which he reviewed the “life of extravagance.”
The Egyptian artist seemed indifferent to the dollars piled on his left, which angered his followers on social media platforms.
Picture dollars reach parliament
The image of dollars prompted many artists and media professionals to criticize Ramadan, and the matter reached the Egyptian parliament, as a deputy called for him to be held accountable and to ensure the extent of his commitment to paying taxes.
According to Cairo 24, Representative Amal Abdel Hamid submitted a request to the Minister of Finance to match Mohamed Ramadan’s tax file with his real profits.
In a statement circulated by several media outlets, the deputy referred to what she called “the previous Ramadan problems with taxes.”
She added, “Throughout his artistic career, we have not seen Ramadan make any social contributions or contributions, like other artists around the world.”
And she concluded, asking, “Art is like any profession from which a person earns, but there is a question that imposes itself now, which is whether Muhammad Ramadan pays taxes to the homeland that correspond to the size of his real wages?”
Ramadan retreats from the picture
Under the weight of criticism, Ramadan deleted the controversial photo from his Instagram account.
He was satisfied with modifying the photo and replacing it on Facebook with one in which the money does not appear.
The Egyptian artist did not comment on the image of the dollars or the criticisms that affected him. However, the media reported that the controversial photo “was taken during his return from the United States via his private plane, which is valued at $ 6 million.”
This is not the first time that Ramadan has raised controversy by publishing pictures of his money or showing the aspects of luxury in his life.
The actor-turned-digital phenomenon has been addressing his audience for years from the inside of private jets and luxurious mansions.
In 2021, Ramadan appeared in a video clip as he threw a bundle of dollars into a swimming pool.
After that clip, Ramadan, who calls himself “Number One”, found himself facing a mass boycott campaign. But he later said it was taken as part of a commercial.
The spread of the clip at the time coincided with the issuance of a court ruling against the young artist obliging him to pay compensation in favor of the late pilot Ashraf Abu Al-Yusr, who was dismissed from his work on the background of a photo he collected in Ramadan inside the cockpit of an aircraft while it was flying.
Criticisms and justifications
Returning to the controversy surrounding the last photo, two teams emerge, one of which strongly criticizes Ramadan’s actions, while the second team tries to find excuses for him.
Ramadan followers say that the Egyptian actor and singer intends to provoke the audience, at a time when the working class is suffering as a result of the deteriorating economic conditions and the decline in the value of the local currency.
On the other hand, tweeters praised the method adopted by Khaled Sarhan to respond to Ramadan, saying that “the profession of art obliges its owner to respect the feelings of his audience and embody their reality instead of showing off by showing the obscene wealth.”
However, the list of grievances that many record about Ramadan is usually met with defense from his fans, who accuse certain parties of trying to “demonize and target him.”
Some of them also insist that what Ramadan is doing is not intended to offend, but is just a tool to stay at the “top of the trend.”
Pages on Facebook suggested that the image of dollars be part of a publicity campaign to promote a new song.
Likewise, some others responded to the criticism of the Egyptian representative by highlighting the dialogue that took place between him and the cardiologist, Gamal Shaaban.
The doctor expressed his dissatisfaction with Ramadan’s behavior and called on him to donate to patients instead of continuing to perform, so that the artist responded to his request to help hospitals that lack medical equipment, according to local newspapers.
Ramadan and the psychology of the masses
Every time Muhammad Ramadan publishes a picture, the discussion about his personality and work is renewed.
There is a segment of the audience that describes Ramadan as arrogant and reproaches him for his actions and expressions that exude – according to their opinion – superiority and bullying.
However, Muhammad Ramadan defends himself by asserting that he is one of the Egyptian people and is always keen to recall his past and his suffering in order to achieve his dreams.
However, some of the tweeters accused the Egyptian star of “manipulating the psychology of the masses and inflating the ego.”
In this context, one of them wrote, “Muhammad Ramadan, although he is a big star and has millions of popularity, he is not satisfied with that, so he works on the psychology of the audience, and continues to stir up controversy every time we are about to forget him, benefiting from the naivety of some or the speed of forgetting.”
On the contrary, another segment of the audience describes Ramadan as a smart artist who was able to understand the imagination of his audience and express it as a human being above all else. They describe the feelings of the masses as temporary, emotional and easily changeable.
From this standpoint, some say that “the story of Ramadan’s rise to stardom is enough to keep him at the top for several years, despite the crises and campaigns that pursue him from time to time.”
