Egyptian star Mohammed Ramadan creates uproar over ‘belly-dance costume’

Cairo: Well-known Egyptian performer Mohammed Ramadan has raised eyebrows in his home country after he appeared wearing an outfit likened to a belly-dance costume at a US music festival.

Detractors deemed the garb unmanly and a misrepresentation of Egypt abroad.

In online images, Ramadan, a widely popular actor and singer, appeared on the stage of the US Coachella music festival in the attire, bringing him under scathing criticism and triggering calls for disciplinary action against him at home.

Ramadan is the first Egyptian to perform at the world-famous festival.

Egyptian lawmaker Mai Osama called for striking off Ramadan’s membership at the actors’ union, accusing him of offending Egyptian society.

In another sign of backlash, Egyptian lawyer Ayman Mahfouz filed a warning to the actors’ union, demanding the association to revoke the membership of Ramadan whose US outlook the lawyer called “feminine and offensive to the Egyptian art”.

Mahfouz was quoted in the local media as accusing Ramdan of “promoting ideas alien to the Egyptian values and traditions”.

While not explicitly naming Ramadan in a critical X post, Alaa, the son of late Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, jumped into the fray.

“In fact, one can’t understand and assimilate what kind of fashion or freedom that prompts male artists to wear an earring and clothes similar to those of women!” Alaa wrote. “It’s supposed that an artist and a star are public figures. Their personal freedom is limited to their houses where they can wear whatever they like. But outside his house, the artist is supposed to set an example in his behaviour, appearance and art,” he added.

Ramadan, who is still in the US, has reportedly defended his contested attire. He said in an alleged Facebook post that the outfit was the product of Egyptian designer Farida Temraz. “The vest is inspired by the statues of the pharaohs. She designed it with Egyptian silver currency and added a black pharaonic cape,” he added in the purported post that media reports said he later deleted.

Head of the Egyptian Actors Syndicate Ashraf Zaki tersely said the issue is outside the union’s jurisdiction.

Ramadan has risen to prominence in recent years with a string of blockbuster action films and TV soaps. He has also launched a career as a rap-like singer, making a big name with several hits.

The 36-year-old entertainer is no stranger to controversy, though.

Last year, Ramadan infuriated the family of late Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat allegedly for ridiculing him in a video song.

In a YouTube song titled “Taurus”, Ramadan appeared in a clip holding Sadat’s trademark pipe and imitating his way of talking in a fashion that the late leader’s family deemed degrading.

Al Sadat ruled Egypt from 1970 until 1981 when he was assassinated by Islamist militants. He launched Egypt’s 1973 war against Israel. He was the first Egyptian leader to visit Israel in 1977 and sign a peace treaty with it two years later.

In 2020, an Egyptian court sentenced Ramadan to one year in prison on charges of slandering a pilot, who lost his job after the celebrity had posted a video showing him inside a jet cockpit.

The video, which went viral online, showed Ramadan inside the cabin sitting next to the pilot and pretending to operate the aircraft in a manner violating aviation rules.