Famous Egyptian actor Hassan Hosny has seen a huge backlash from media outlets and social media after a video showed him making an allegedly offensive comment about Moroccan women was widely shared recently on social media outlets in the country.
The video, which was recently uploaded on YouTube by Saudi Arabian actor Majeed Alrhedi, shows Hosny having a laid-back conversation with Alrhedi in which Alrhedi says "I want to get married and go to Morocco for my honeymoon."
Hosny immediately replies "Why go to the restaurant when you have a sandwich?"
Alrhedi is then seen laughing hysterically at Hosny's comment till the end of the video.
However, Moroccan media didn't take the actor's comment as a joke, and neither did the Moroccan public.
Morocco World News said Hosny labeled Morocco "a country of prostitution," adding that he meant to say that Morocco is "a sex restaurant where sex services are readily available."
In an interview with Al-Arabiya.net following the backlash, Egyptian actor Sameh Al-Sareety reportedly received a phone call from Hosny in which he said that what he meant in the video was to praise Morocco and not belittle its people.
He added that he was rather advising his friend to get married from Morocco instead of somewhere else and just going there for spending the honeymoon.
Many Moroccans took to social media to voice their anger. One Moroccan woman sarcastically wrote on Twitter "the son of dance clubs and cabarets, it does not honor me to reply to people like you, I am just worried that you are forced to issue an official apology like Egyptian celebrities do every time."
Another Moroccan wrote on Twitter "I didn't want to talk about this topic but since it's been opened, I'd like to say to Hassan Hosny that you've gotten older so go and do what's best for the end of your life instead of insulting Moroccans, and be careful not to let your daughter become a belly dancer."
In addition to Hosny's clarification of his comment, Al-Sareety said that the Moroccan newspapers adding fuel to the fire were trying to wreck relations between the Egyptian and Moroccan people.
He added that they didn't represent what the Moroccan people think and that they couldn't ruin relations between the two countries.
This is not the first time that Egyptian celebrities have made offensive comments about Morocco. In July 2014, Egyptian TV host Amany El Khayat reportedly attacked the country and said that "Morocco’s economy is based on prostitution." Moroccan society has also been repeatedly portrayed offensively in Egyptian media.