We talked to ramy and Mahershala Ali about Muslim representation on television. LorraineAli reports
The unlikely, perfect pairing of Mahershala Ali and Ramy Youssef makes Season 2 of Hulu’s Muslim American comedy “Ramy” even better than the first.One of the most respected and sought-after talents in Hollywood joined your little show for Season 2, Ramy. How in the name of Allah did you pull that off?I’ll explain if you could just help us out a little and do some editing, because Mahershala insists on talkingAs long as you make this all about me. And we’re just going to call next season “Ali.
Because so often you get combinations where the people guest star on television shows or do films together — names, big entities or whatnot — and it just doesn’t work. I wanted “Ramy” to work.Yes. I loved that it felt like it was speaking to me specifically as a Muslim. I was seeing an experience up there that didn’t feel too far removed from my own ... of a young Muslim man, searching.
Ramy, you’ve said you never set out to make a show about Muslim representation. It’s “Ramy’s” weird little world. But the show hits all these universal chords about self-worth, family and just the daily struggles of being a less-than-fabulous human.There’s such little content [by Muslims] for Muslim audiences, so a show like ours is almost in this slot to represent and cover things in a certain way. But we don’t.
Part of that duality means viewers who’ve never been in an Islamic center or been involved in conversations between friends about what is and isn’t haram are all of a sudden part of this new world. It’s simple but groundbreaking.It was sort of a shock to me that I’ve been Muslim for 20 years and it’s taken 20 years to have the experience that I did with “Ramy.” I converted like a year before 9/11, and I had just started working professionally. My first name is Mahershala.
Going from, “Do not tell anybody you’re Muslim” in 2001 to 2020, when you’re playing an imam on television, doing your prayers in Arabic and then praying between setups, on set, it’s just mind blowing.The leap and the change ... I never imagined being on a set, and then at a given time of the day, look to your left, the right and there’s like a couple of dudes over there making prayer together after they just left craft services.
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