How's The Egyptian Celebrity Blacklist Working?

It's doing wonders according to a new study. Alwfed online newspaper concluded that entertainers on such lists have reasons to worry about their future. The famous blacklist of celebrities who backed Mubarak and criticized the protesters is doing some work to leave an impact on the career of those entertainers. Now we know the entertainers that made the list of shame have seen decreased viewership, and earning less as a result. The study reports the following observations:

1. Tamer Hosny TV drama "Adam" was watched by a quarter of a million viewers on YouTube for the first episode. Then each following episode had averaged 50 thousand views. Tamer Hosny is the biggest celebrity on that list. His support, cry for Mubarak is well documented.
2. Ghada Abdel Razik, the actress that led the protest for Mubarak and chanted for the old man, "Samarah" is her show and a reported 10,000 veiwers have watched compared with the large numbers of viewers her show of last year "Zahara" received.
3. Karama Family, of 'Aalet Karamah starring Hassan Yousef who trashed the protesters in Tahrir on live TV, and Afaf Shoeeb who has joked about them and about their demands "Pizza and grilled meat" also seen a decreased viewership.
4. Keed Al Nisa, the TV drama about a polygamist family started of with 80 thousand views on YouTube only to drop to 5,000 views per episode. Fifi Abdo and Somia Khashab, the leading ladies of the show have offered support for Mubarak regime. That one could be becasue the show is really lame and not a propber material for Ramadan

A number of entertainer in Egypt have been vocal about being placed on the blacklist and how that affects their work and success. They have acknowledged the affect of the list as producers think twice before they hire someone on that list. I do however, think that those of those low ratings are due to poor quality shows and not just an entertainer who has supported this politician or criticized another. The timing a show airs have a lot to do with that too.



Beyond Egypt, shows that are starring Syrian actors who have been friendly to the Assad regime have also suffered. Actress Solaf Fawkhirjy has two shows this Ramadan and both shows are suffering. Very few Syrian entertainers have spoken in public about their disagreement with Assad. So this year Syrian dramas are not connecting with people if they are being watched in the first place.