I'm currently involved with the festival on an official capacity. I met Omar Sherif in the lobby of the hotel he's staying at and I was carrying a pleasant conversation with him and, although despite it being embarrassingly poor, I tried to speak in an Egyptian dialect so he can understand me. Two girls from my team wanted to meet him, sisters actually from the royal family, and so I introduced them to him. One of them was particularly excited. He told us at one point that he wanted to come back to the hotel as soon as he's done with whatever he was doing that day so he can join his son for dinner upstairs at the hotel. She politely suggested to him that there are other restaurants in Qatar that he should try out. In that exact moment, out of nowhere, he literally snapped! like a completely different person. He retorted so rudely and inappropriately that she doesn't "have to exaggerate Doha", "he's been here before many times" and so she doesn't have to tell him "where to go and what to do", and that "he knows His Highness and Her Highness quite well". Out of shock, she apologized at first, but then when he kept going at it she told him firmly that he doesn't need to speak to her that way and he should speak to her respectfully, before she stormed off entirely. It was an extremely awkward situation. I even relayed it to one of the team members, who just so happens to be the Qatari guy in the video that you see standing behind Omar before he slaps the girl. I don't know if its merely a case of being old and senile, but after watching the video and seeing his track record of being physically abusive, I'm starting to think differently. I shudder to think what would have happened if he laid a hand on my friend! he would be in quite a predicament..
I'm currently involved with the festival on an official capacity. I met Omar Sherif in the lobby of the hotel he's staying at and I was carrying a pleasant conversation with him and, although despite it being embarrassingly poor, I tried to speak in an Egyptian dialect so he can understand me. Two girls from my team wanted to meet him, sisters actually from the royal family, and so I introduced them to him. One of them was particularly excited. He told us at one point that he wanted to come back to the hotel as soon as he's done with whatever he was doing that day so he can join his son for dinner upstairs at the hotel. She politely suggested to him that there are other restaurants in Qatar that he should try out. In that exact moment, out of nowhere, he literally snapped! like a completely different person. He retorted so rudely and inappropriately that she doesn't "have to exaggerate Doha", "he's been here before many times" and so she doesn't have to tell him "where to go and what to do", and that "he knows His Highness and Her Highness quite well". Out of shock, she apologized at first, but then when he kept going at it she told him firmly that he doesn't need to speak to her that way and he should speak to her respectfully, before she stormed off entirely. It was an extremely awkward situation. I even relayed it to one of the team members, who just so happens to be the Qatari guy in the video that you see standing behind Omar before he slaps the girl. I don't know if its merely a case of being old and senile, but after watching the video and seeing his track record of being physically abusive, I'm starting to think differently. I shudder to think what would have happened if he laid a hand on my friend! he would be in quite a predicament..