Artist Rania Youssef has stirred widespread controversy with her remarks about her curves, hijab, and religion, following the issuance of a press statement regarding her interview with the Iraqi Al-Rasheed channel. This led to legal lawsuits against her from lawyers on charges of contempt of religion, with her first trial session set for February 21.
Her statement included the following: "It is customary that every profession has a strict and clear law regulating it with specific articles and provisions. However, it is known that every profession has a code of human honor in addition to rigid legal provisions, as the code of honor acts as a shadow of the law. The media code of honor obligates those working in media to respect their guests and respect their desire to report about themselves in the way they want, especially if these guests are community celebrities and elites." She continued: "In truth, I had decided to limit or temporarily abstain from press or television interviews, particularly those relying on disseminating recorded content through social media, seeking more views within the 'trending' culture, which often requires cutting and altering the substance of the conversation and showcasing collected clips from the dialogue, providing a false and distorted meaning to what was said throughout the conversation. However, after insistence from an Iraqi host—with all my love and appreciation for the dear Iraqi people and audience—"
Rania added: "This host sent many urgent messages that my interview with his channel on New Year’s Eve would be a significant victory for him in his work, and that the channel does not have the budget to pay the amounts that public figures and artists receive. After persistent insistence, I agreed to conduct the interview without any financial compensation, out of appreciation for the large Iraqi audience. However, during the dialogue, I was surprised by some questions that could be termed 'tasteless questions,' so my automatic response was to answer with some sarcasm and laughter; this is a known way to confront tastelessness."
Rania Youssef elaborated: "Among these types was a question about the clothing of female artists in general at film festivals. I replied with a sarcastic response taken out of context, emphasizing that I was joking and not speaking seriously, and that is at minute 2:37 to 2:39 of the first clip, where I tried to joke with you the whole time. I said, 'I’m joking with you,' which is found in the full version of the episode lasting 50 minutes, and then I completed my answer."
She noted: "Despite that, after I finished the interview, I called and sent messages to the host asking him to delete the question regarding the hijab and my answer because I feared it would cause confusion. He promised after the question from the channel and the director that he would delete this segment, but in pursuit of 'trending' at the expense of someone who received him and his channel without any financial compensation and out of respect for the Iraqi people, he did not fulfill his promise and broadcast the entire interview. I possess all the written and audio messages exchanged after the interview with the host's voice proving that I was deceived more than once, and that he did not keep his promise in everything he said. It is the right of the artist or public figure to review what they said before it is broadcast or published, as long as it has not been aired, because any person—and the artist is human—can err or slip with a word that does not carry any intent or meaning as it appeared."
