This just in from the Dohar International Film Festival, where legendary douchebag and actor Omar Sharif was turning on the charm at a screening of his 1991 film An Egyptian Citizen:
The woman he strikes is a journalist who was presumably just going about her business. I don't know what upsets me more - his utter lack of remorse, as though he goes around hitting women all the time and thinks nothing of it, or the journalist's near-total lack of reaction, as though she's used to men she's never met before whacking her in the kisser. She keeps smiling, FFS! While I admire her grace in the face of this revolting old man's outrageous and insulting behaviour, the primal beast in me wishes she'd returned his slap in kind.*
*Perhaps my foul mood is because I moved on the weekend and my new neighbour likes to play electric bass IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN NIGHT. Verily, hell is other people.
The woman he strikes is a journalist who was presumably just going about her business. I don't know what upsets me more - his utter lack of remorse, as though he goes around hitting women all the time and thinks nothing of it, or the journalist's near-total lack of reaction, as though she's used to men she's never met before whacking her in the kisser. She keeps smiling, FFS! While I admire her grace in the face of this revolting old man's outrageous and insulting behaviour, the primal beast in me wishes she'd returned his slap in kind.*
*Perhaps my foul mood is because I moved on the weekend and my new neighbour likes to play electric bass IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAMN NIGHT. Verily, hell is other people.
I bet it would have had more coverage if she'd hit him back. He used to be so handsome - how disappointing that he seems to be ugly on the inside.
ReplyDeleteWow, what a bell-end. I hope (but doubt) he feels ashamed of himself!
ReplyDeleteDarling, my neighbor upstairs used to play his guitar at 1 or 2 AM on weekdays. Actually, he gets lively from 11 PM, and sometimes he turned on the television so loud that I felt I was with him watching The Simpsons and Family Guy. Then the creaking of the bed when he had sex with his girlfriend... Then I slid a letter under his door, complaining about the things he did. He replied, said he was sorry, and he's been making noticeable effort in being a better neighbor.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, geez, what the heck happened to Omar Sharif?
@Foodycat - yes, it's dispiriting. He has always been a bit "unreconstructed" (i.e. requesting that young, female journalists be sent to his hotel to interview him - resulting in at least one son! - and being generally sexist in his comments on actresses he'd worked with), but I hadn't realised that his retrograde attitudes didn't include chivalry of even a most basic kind. It also really [redacted] me off that the guy in the background just smiles.
ReplyDelete@Lilith - I am pretty sure that the train Sharif is travelling on doesn't serve 'self-awareness' in its dining car.
@Famous - OK, I haven't had to deal with rumpypumpy noises yet. And I hope I don't have to, but if I do please send me the wording of your letter!