Oprah Opens Door for Arab Celebrities

posted on: Oct 5, 2009

For the first time in American television history, Oprah Winfrey will feature some of the Middle East’s most prolific celebrity icons in a new show set to air this month on satellite network MBC4.

The show titled “Fame From Around The World,” features snap segments of artists like Nancy Ajram, whom Winfrey calls ‘the Britney Spears of the Middle East’, and highlights the controversy she has caused with her risqué dance moves and sexy image in this ‘deeply conservative’ part of the world, as Winfrey points out.

The show, filmed on August 27, will also feature Egyptian heartthrob Amr Diab as well as Lebanese icons Haifa Wehbe and Ragheb Alameh.

Muddled reports claim that Oprah interviewed Ajram via video chat because the starlet would not leave her infant daughter, Mila, to travel to the United States, but this couldn’t be confirmed. Arabic music fans are elated that the reigning queen of talkshow has decided to highlight Arab celebrities in her new show, but some are questioning the sensitivity and accuracy that Oprah used in portraying them to American audiences.

In the United States, images of war and conflict dominate the media coverage of the Arabian Peninsula, but Oprah’s depiction of Lebanon as a ‘deeply conservative’ country has many people annoyed and confused at the lack of research done by the Winfrey team.

Lebanon, by many accounts, remains one of the most open and liberal societies in the world, and Winfrey’s report only sensationalises and reinforces stale stereotypes.

Mohamad Kadry
Khaleej Times