International musician Bryan Adams followed in the footsteps of actor Morgan Freeman, composer Yanni and many others who came to Egypt in order to perform and promote tourism to the country.
The Canadian singer and songwriter visited Egypt to perform a live show as part of his Australian tour. He probably did not expect the variety of responses his trip would receive following posts to his official Facebook page.
(Photo from Facebook)
Adams posted an aerial picture of informal settlements near the Giza Pyramids as he flew into Egypt, with the caption reading: “Cairo from the air”. The picture attracted an array of negative comments from Egyptian fans, who accused him of depicting a negative image of Egypt. Others tried to defend him, explaining that he did nothing but showcase the truth of what already exists in Egypt.
“I am very offended by your picture Bryan Adams,” wrote one fan. “This is a photo only of the poorer side of Egypt! It seems your camera likes to take shots of the bad side and not the good side… so disappointed.”
“I am really surprised that a celebrity such as you does not understand the impact of his views and the posts he shares. If this is all you got out of your visit then you have not seen a thing and your tourist guide is useless. Your fans who have not visited Cairo have a very nice image to remember now thanks to you. To anyone who sees this comment please note that this does not represent Cairo at all. It is a neighbourhood like one of the awful ones any country has,” wrote another fan.
Aside from the aerial view, Adams also posted a few selfies of him touring the Giza Pyramids and Sphinx, but his final post from Egypt elicited a completely different response than the first.
Adams also posted a picture of his guitar, which had been defaced with green permanent marker by Egyptian customs. Adams called the markings “graffiti”, commenting under the picture: “Airport customs graffiti on my 1946 Martin D-18 from Egypt. Back to the luthier.”
Unlike his previous post, this picture was met with hundreds of apologetic fans who expressed their regrets for the damage caused by airport customs. Some even suggested solutions for erasing the marks on the guitar, which dates back to the 1940s.
“On behalf of all Egyptians who love you, we’re sorry Bryan for that,” a fan commented, while another stated: “We’re sorry Bryan, we suffer the same stupidity ourselves everyday!”
Less than a day after he received hundreds of apologies, Adams posted a thank you note to all of his fans in Egypt expressing his gratitude and his plans to bring his family with him on his next visit to Cairo.
“Thank you for writing about the guitar, I really appreciate it, it will be fixed no problem,” said Adams on Facebook.
“I want you all to know that I love your country and we had an amazing time there, we felt at home,” added Adams.
