The end of social media for Ahmed Fahmy

CAIRO - 20 April 2019: It seems that the negative pressure of social media has taken its toll on the Egyptian actor Ahmed Fahmy as he announced on Tuesday April 16, that he will quit social media within two weeks.


The announcement came via a post on Instagram which was a photo of Fahmy with his dog and under it the caption “The final fortnight for me on social media..bye bye”. The post received more than 137K likes and attracted 2411 comments which were a mixture of praise and abuse. One follower replied to the post with “To hell with you” to which Fahmy answered “To hell with your mum and her kids” and it is precisely these kind of exchange of words that have plagued Fahmy's experience with social media.


It was less than a year ago that Fahmy opened an Instagram account, 11th July 2018, with about 1.6 million followers and it was his fiancée the actress Hanna Zahed who created the account for him and during their interview with Isaad Younis, Zahed admitted that she has Fahmy's password as she was the one who encouraged him to open an Instagram account. A decision she later regretted as Fahmy's constant argument with her fans as well as his led Zahed to block him from her account for a brief period.


Many are puzzled by Fahmy's decision with local media speculating that the reason might be due to a fight with Zahed over his derogatory words with their fans, while others are assuming it is to do with the negative image he is creating for himself which could overshadow the success of his future work. One fan wrote “Are you trying to stop yourself from gaining any sin during the holy month of Ramadan – as he swears and uses derogatory terms in his replies to abusive comments -” to which Fahmy replied “and beyond Ramadan” in a clear sign that the month of Ramadan has nothing to do with his decision.


Fahmy's decision is an indication that he has never been fully comfortable with social media as he struggles to control his anger and unlike his fellow actors he always replies and does not opt to close the comment option as others have done, for example Bushra.


Zahed and Fahmy will be starring together for the first time this Ramadan in a comedy series entitled “El Wad Sayed El Shahat” (The Begger Boy, Sayed) which is a play in words of Adel Emam renowned comedy play “El Wad Sayed El Shaghal” (The Servant Boy, Sayed).

And while most of the stars that have series' being aired during Ramadan get more active on social media for that month to promote their work and encourage more people to tune in to their drama/comedy series, Fahmy has taken the opposite route and will leave social media and let his comedy series battle it out for the highest rating without his intervention, and judging from his aggressive replies to anyone that criticised him, his work or Zahed it is probably a good decision as it might damage the success of the series.