Rami Malek claims he was once racially profiled by the Los Angeles Police Department.
In a recent interview Writing in The Guardian, the Oscar winner recalled an encounter with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in which he was allegedly racially profiled and thrown into a police car as authorities attempted to to locate a thief.
“I was thrown on the hood of an LAPD cruiser because someone robbed a liquor store and stole a woman’s purse,” Malek said. “They said the (thief) was of Latin descent and you fit the description.”
Malek, who is of Egyptian descent, recounted the alleged incident at the hands of police and how his “smart” friend helped him.
“I remember how hot that engine was, they had to race there and it almost burned my hands,” the 43-year-old actor said. “My friend, who was white, was smart enough to say, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian.’ Not Latin. I remember laughing in the police car thinking, “Okay, this is a very precarious situation. I might go to jail for something I didn’t do.
Malek did not give specific details about when the incident took place or what happened afterward.
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In his interview with the British outlet, Malek recalled growing up in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, and said his immigrant parents embraced the United States to a certain extent, “but there was also a certain… I will not say alienating certain aspects of culture, but certainly not accepting them.
“I don’t know how we can recover from this,” he added. “I’m what they call ‘white passing,’ but I have some very distinctive characteristics and we definitely felt out of place.”
The actor said his full name, Rami Said Malek, always triggers security alerts when he travels through airports.
“I started thinking, ‘What’s going on?’ every time I tried to enter a country. These days there may be a moment. Then they’ll say, “No, it’s the guy from Bohemian Rhapsody. Let it pass,” he said.
THE Bohemian Rhapsody The actor also spoke about his anxiety regarding discrimination against immigrants in the United States and he thinks things could get worse with the US president. Donald Trump take office. He said he had read former US president that of Barack Obama book, Dreams of my father and the audacity of hopeand highlighted his journey to becoming president.
“The idea that a man whose father was from Kenya and whose mother was from Kansas could become president of the United States was one of the most hopeful moments in the history of the American dream,” Malek said. “It was overturned. I always look at situations like this and just hope it brings out the best in us.
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