You all must have heard of the recent incident when Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah got stuck with fans and paparazzi, making him unable to perform Eid prayers.

The Liverpool striker couldn’t leave his family house in Negrig village, where he spent the public holiday. Salah eventually couldn’t make it on time, even though he was helped to get out by the intervention of security forces. 

What came as a surprise was people’s reactions to the incident. A lot of fans were disappointed with his attitude towards the situation. Salah took to Twitter to express his concerns saying, “Regarding what’s happening with some journalists and some people and the fact that one has become unable to get out of his home to pray has nothing to do with love. This is called disrespect to one’s privacy and lack of professionalism.”

 

 

 

This all leaves us with one question, do celebrities have the right to lead a normal life like normal human beings? Or does accepting fame and becoming a public figure deprive them of this perk?

Unfortunately, Salah is not the first celebrity to fall victim for the notoriety of fame. History recalls many similar incidents, like when celebrities couldn’t walk the red carpet in Cairo International Film Festival, back in 2015, because of the crowds. What’s even worse was when fans followed Amr Diab as he visited his father’s grave and sang to him “Ma Balash Netkalem Fel Mady”! 

Yes, agreeing on becoming a public figure is no easy and comes at a high cost. Everyone will find something to criticize, fans will come flocking to take a picture during lunch, and most of all, haters are always going to hate. However, does this mean that there shouldn’t be a limit to all of this? Yes, fan or not, you’re allowed to criticize an artist or celebrity, but maybe when it comes to their work, not their personal style, or worse, their spouse’s style. 

Let’s all please acknowledge the fact that celebrities are human beings just like us. At the end of the day, the music they make, the films they produce, or the golden boots they win are all means of entertainment offered on a silver platter for us, fans. So, is this how we pay them back after they dedicated their careers to give us something we enjoy? Well, according to logic, it’s a definite no, but it seems like there’s an ugly truth to it and fans still insist on having a say in their favourite celebrity’s life. The question now is, till when?

_________________

By Nadine Arab