The video above is extracted from MTV Lebanon’s program “Ktir Salbe” and has been portrayed as being racist and not funny by activists and bloggers. Few months back, MTV came under fire for a “racist” report on the foreign workers in Burj Hammoud and Dora.
In my opinion, the ‘Ktir Salbe’ show as a whole is not funny at all in general and the video I posted is more lame than racist. The director of the show Hani Khafsheh tried defending it by saying Ktir Salbe has a double meaning in Arabic. You can say it in your daily life and it means ‘very cool.’ and the other meaning is the exact translation with is ‘very negative’… When we raise a serious subject, we talk about it as very negative, like what’s happening with maids, but It’s not very convincing to say the least.
In all, I wouldn’t go as far as calling MTV a racist channel because of few reports and a show, as the majority of its staff are smart and well-educated people, but I strongly believe they should be more cautious in their reports and comedy programs and send out the right message at all time. For example, they could have easily interviewed few non-Lebanese and more competent Lebanese or some officials in their Dora and Burj-Hammoud report and avoided filming random foreigners while taking about crimes and prostitution. Also, they could have covered the matter as an increase in crimes all over Lebanon, and specifically in poor and deprived areas. In fact, Dora and Burj Hammoud are doing relatively well when compared to other regions in Lebanon.