2020 #نانسي_عجرم

[sufi]

Always squeaky clean, Nancy the mononymous icon of the middle east is suddenly embroiled in a murder case in the midst of a social uprising, like suddenly the soap opera has been re-imagined 2020 style with a bunch of nasty new plot threads emerging

good article about how the story connects to the divisive social situation and fairly familiar issues, and seemingly a widespread enthusiasm for the downfall of the national treasure https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/i...-case-haunting-lebanons-pop-queen-nancy-ajram

Nancy Ajram is the closest thing Lebanon has had to a 'national sweetheart'.

Approachable, cutesy and liked by all, she has been the small country's best-loved celebrity singer in the past 20 years, her pop songs, fame and sunny personality reaching the farthest corners of the Arab world.

That is, until January 5.

On that fateful Sunday night, the husband of Nancy Ajram shot dead an alleged intruder in their villa in an upscale neighbourhood in Keserwan, claiming self-defence. The family of the victim, a Syrian refugee named Mohammed Hassan Moussa, claim he worked for the family and had come to demand long overdue wages.

Alleged details of the incident spread - including leaked and allegedly doctored security camera footage of the incident, rumours of blackmail, affairs and the complicity of the family’s other household staff - further contradicting Fadi al-Hashem’s claim of self-defence.

 

[sufi]

I like the idea of sacrificing national pop icons for the sake of society,

 

[DannyL]

Wow, thanks for posting.

One of the things I've heard a lot about is how Syrian refugees face enormous amounts of prejudice in Lebanon, Turkey and the other nations they've emigrated to en masse. I guess this is vindication.

Idk if it's related here but I listened to some stuff about the kafala system in Lebanon recently - this is a system where every migrant needs someone in country who is fully responsible for their passport and legal status. As you can imagine, this is wide open to abuse and has drawn some parallels to slavery. It kinda systemises and reifies already existing inequalities. Some more here: https://hummusforthought.com/2018/08/15/podcast-episode-2-lebanons-kafala-system/