14 DAY TRIAL // Omar Sharif is nice only until you try to cut in line. A video of the legendary actor at a film festival in Qatar has emerged, showing him slapping a female fan for trying to get in front of other fans for a photo with him.
You can see the video below, embedded at the end of the article.
It shows Omar, star of the Hollywood classic “Lawrence of Arabia,” posing for pictures with fans and for media representatives.
From the start it's clear that he likes to keep everything organized, as he poses with one fan girl, while telling someone out of the camera's range to “let her get her picture.”
Then, as the actor is posing without fans, another woman is seen coming in front of the line and just standing there, waiting for the right opportunity to cut in line and get her picture taken with him.
Omar slaps her so hard across the face it sends her hair flying, while yelling at her in Arabic.
The Washington Post has a translation of what he said to her: “My dear! I told you I’d get to you afterwards! I just said that and you’re standing here. Put something in your brain!”
All this time, the woman can be heard muttering “I'm sorry.” She's smiling awkwardly and, though she once touches her cheek, which must still be burning from the slap, she still poses with Omar – and even smiles for it.
“I'm sorry,” Omar also told her, leaning towards her for the pic – and all seemed to be forgotten.
Clashes between celebrities and their fans are not as uncommon as we might think, though it's not necessarily the star who does the hitting.
One of the cases to get a lot of media attention recently was that of British songbird Leona Lewis who, at a book signing two years ago, was approached by a male fan and punched in the head.
Police later learned that the fan had a history of mental issues, and that he “blamed” Leona for not making it past auditions on X Factor, thinking he would have had it not been for her being in the competition.
He was deemed not suitable to stand trial, as we also reported at the time.
