A livestream showing German streamer Benjamool being pelted with rocks while walking through Cairo has gone viral online, particularly on platforms like Reddit, with numerous commenters posting derogatory and racist remarks about Egypt and Egyptians as a whole.
The incident was shared on Reddit’s r/LivestreamFail, yet what followed was a barrage of racist and xenophobic comments portraying Egyptians as violent, uncivilized, and inherently hostile toward foreigners.
Users described Egypt in derogatory terms, attacked Egyptians collectively, and suggested that the behavior in the video represented the country and its people. Some comments went far beyond criticism of the individuals involved, using openly racist and dehumanizing language.
“Egypt is the worst country I’ve ever visited. They are only interested in taking your money,” one user commented. Another alleged that “every Egyptian I’ve ever worked with was unprofessional.”
The Egyptian Ministry of Interior has now responded to the incident. Security authorities identified the foreign content creator shown in the circulated video.
The streamer told authorities that he encountered a group of children while walking, played football with them, and that some of the children subsequently threw stones at him “for fun and joking.”
The children’s families subsequently apologized to him. The streamer said he understood the situation and declined to take legal action against the children, so apparently no criminal complaint was filed.
The controversy raised questions about the growing popularity of travel streaming. Creators can now walk through foreign cities while broadcasting their surroundings to thousands of viewers in real time. In the livestream, Benjamool is walking through a poor residential area of Cairo while livestreaming.
During the walk, a group of children begins following him through the narrow streets. They surround him, shouting and moving around him as he continues walking and filming.
Yet the people appearing in those broadcasts rarely have any control over how they are portrayed.
Residents can suddenly find themselves turned into background characters in a foreign creator’s content. Children can appear on camera without understanding what a livestream is or how widely the footage might spread.
Entire neighborhoods can become part of a creator’s online story, and potentially part of a monetized business.
The issue becomes particularly uncomfortable when footage of poorer communities or unfamiliar environments is presented primarily as entertainment for an international audience.
The sweeping descriptions of Egyptians and the dehumanizing language directed at an entire population demonstrate how quickly an isolated incident can become fuel for pre-existing prejudice.
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