Armie Hammer, Sofia Richie, and more celebrities receive flak on social media for promoting Saudi Arabia's MDL Beast Festival
Celebrities like Armie Hammer, Ryan Phillippe, Sofia Richie, Steve Aoki, Winnie Harlow, David Guetta, and more were recently in Saudi Arabia to attend the MDL Beast Festival. And to document their travel and stay in the Middle Eastern country, each of them shared updates, photos, and posts on social media, which did not go down well with fellow netizens and critics, as reported by People. It was reported that the festival is Saudi Arabia’s initiative to promote tourism and revamp its cultural image to the world.
However, with recent political developments and human rights violation, the situation seems to be quite tense. It is particularly due to the country’s take on women’s rights, LGBT rights, and most importantly, the recent killing of Saudi Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. As the Hollywood celebs were all praise about the festival and Saudi hospitality, social media thought it best to give them a few lessons in politics and current affairs.
Hammer was one of the popular faces who was in Riyadh at the event and was all praise for the MDL Beast Festival. He posted on his Instagram account, saying, “What I just witnessed was truly special,” wrote Hammer, 33. “I saw Saudi men and women ecstatic about an event that they never thought they would ever see in their lifetimes… it felt like a cultural shift. A change. Like Woodstock in the 1960’s. Social evolution is slow and takes time but what I was able to be a part of felt like one giant seed of growth. The people there throwing themselves into the experience will lead a cultural revolution that we all need to get behind and support. #mdlbeast.”
While this might have been his very candid take on his experience, it didn’t resonate well with other journalists like Yashar Ali, who retorted with his post, saying, “Hope it was worth it @armiehammer. Did you find Jamal Khashoggi’s body while you were there?” Ali wrote.
Influencer, Sofia Richie, on the other hand, got criticism on her post with her friends. Her photo featured social media influencer Alessandra Ambrosio, along with Riche herself in a mirror selfie at the Ritz-Carlton, which captioned “Saudi girls”. To this Instagrammers reacted harshly criticizing how celebrities ignore the harsh treatment of Saudi women.
There was also Ed Westwick, of ‘Gossip Girl’ fame, at the festival. His post was also criticized by Yasher Ali. Ali tweeted to Westwick’s Instagram post, saying, “Love how @EdWestwick tries to justify his Saudi government sponsored trip by mentioning UNICEF in his Instagram caption.”