LAPD Cops Once Arrested Egyptian Rami Malek because he "Looked" Latin

This incident summarizes the dumb and ugly stereotype of the average American. Dumb because they thought an Egyptian looked Latin, and ugly because in thinking that way they revealed their racism.

Just like that American idiot woman who sat on a plane next to an Italian professor who was scribbling down his equations and formulas on a piece of paper. He had frizzy black hair, so she immediately notified the crew that her neighbor is an Arab terrorist scribbling dangerous Arabic writing. He was of course detained and questioned, until the Americans, i.e. the crew, the police and the woman understood how dumb they all were.

It's been said many times: Racism comes from ignorance. Now you know why Americans are racists.

=========================================================


"I Remember How Hot That Engine Was": Rami Malek Got Real About Being Racially Profiled By The LAPD
Larry Fitzmaurice
Sun, January 19, 2025

Rami Malek got real about what sounds like a pretty scary situation with the police.


Dave Benett / Hoda Davaine/Dave Benett/Getty Images for NetflixIn a new interview with the Guardian, the Oscar-winning actor — who is Egyptian — claimed that he was once racially profiled by the Los Angeles Police Department.

“I got thrown on the bonnet of an LAPD cop car because someone had robbed a liquor store and stolen a woman’s bag,” he recalled, before claiming that he was told the suspect was "of Latin descent."

"You fit the description," he remembered the cops saying to him.

Anadolu / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"I remember how hot that engine was, they must have been racing over there and it was almost burning my hands,” he said, explaining that he was only released because his "Caucasian" friend "was clever enough to go, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian. Not Latin.’"

"I remember laughing on the cop car, thinking, ‘OK, this is a very precarious situation. I may well be going to jail for something I’ve not done.’”

================================================

From the interview also:

“I’m what’s called ‘white passing’, but I have very distinctive features, and we definitely didn’t fit in,” Malek told The Guardian.

He added that he and his brother became hyper-aware of how people behaved toward them, saying, “we just had an uncanny way of sensing people.”

Even when he travels, he said, his full name – Rami Said Malek – sometimes triggers security alerts.

“There might be a moment. Then they’ll go, ‘Nah, that’s the guy from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Let him through,’” he said.

Malek is best known for portraying rock legend Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a role for which he won a best lead actor Oscar in 2019, making history as the first actor of Egyptian and Arab heritage to win the category.

He is also known for starring in the thriller series “Mr. Robot” and playing the villain in the 2021 James Bond film “No Time to Die.”

Malek will next star in Ella Hickson’s new stage adaptation of the Sophocles tragedy “Oedipus” at London’s Old Vic theatre. It begins January 21.