Photo Credit: Official photo by Bjoern Kommerell
Omar Sharif Jr.

“I write this article in fear,” starts Omar Sharif Jr.’s revelatory article in the Advocate, which dishes out coming out stories to fit every pallet. This one involves an Egyptian TV and screen actor, grandson of a Hollywood legend, who fled his homeland for the safety of America. And he’s probably Jewish, too.

His coming out has taken place against a background of “fear for my country, fear for my family, and fear for myself. My parents will be shocked to read it, surely preferring I stay in the shadows and keep silent, at least for the time being.”

Advertisement




He left an Egypt that is becoming progressively intolerant of all kinds of minorities, as extremist Muslim parties have gained absolute majority in Parliament. He confides:

“I write this article despite the inherent risks associated because as we stand idle at what we hoped would be the pinnacle of Egyptian modern history, I worry that a fall from the top could be the most devastating. I write, with healthy respect for the dangers that may come, for fear that Egypt’s Arab Spring may be moving us backward, not forward.

“And so I hesitantly confess: I am Egyptian, I am half Jewish, and I am gay.”

Actually, since his mother is the Jewish, the tormented star is a Jew. So now he has two very good reasons not to go home.

Advertisement

SHARE
Previous articleToulouse Day 2: Maybe the French Need Some Israeli Commando Help?
Next articleBacklash Against Inclusion of BDS in Israel Day Parade
Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.