Pop singer Shaaban Abdel Rehim has asked his lawyer to sue the international fast food chain McDonald’s for 250,000 pounds, claiming the firm halted ads with his voice promoting the company’s McFelafel sandwiches in Egypt.
Abdel Rehim told the UAE daily Al Bayan that his contract with McDonald’s was for one year, and that the sum he is claiming is the penalty stated in the contract.
The contract states that any breach of its stipulations by either side requires the violator to pay 250,000 pounds, he said.
“Since the company stopped the ad just one month after it started running, I’m eligible for compensation,” said Abdel Rehim.
“I never knew that McDonald’s was a Jewish company, and even if they paid me millions, I would not work with them,” he added.
“How come I hate Israel and made an advertisement for a Jewish company? Thank God they’ve stopped it, because if they had continued I would’ve asked them to stop it and paid them the penalty,” said Abdel Rehim.
Shortly after Abdel Rehim’s anti-Israeli song Ana Bakrah Israel (I Hate Israel) topped the charts, McDonald’s international headquarters banned the ad, but claimed the decision was made by McDonald’s Egypt.
MacDonald’s international spokeswoman Anna Rosenitch claimed the decision had nothing to do with complaints from an American Jewish group opposing the ad.
According to the Associated Press, Jewish-American League spokesman Kenneth Bandlaran, among others, has opposed Abdel Rehim’s song, claiming it promotes hatred of Israelis.
He further told AP that the league did actually complain about the McFalafel ad.
Abdel Rehim expressed great disappointment and anger at the decision to ban the ad, saying the American multinational knew very well he was the singer of I Hate Israel before they hired him - Albawaba.com
