Egyptian artist Mohamed Ramadan has broken his silence after being excluded from singing at the final ceremony of the African Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The 35th edition of the continental showpiece will come to an end on Sunday, January 18, 2026, with Morocco set to battle it out with Senegal for the ultimate title.
The high-profile finale between the Atlas Lions and the Taranga Lions has been scheduled to take place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.
Morocco are chasing their second AFCON title just as Senegal, who last won the trophy in 2021 in Cameroon.
However, Mohamed Ramadan has recounted the behind-the-scenes story of his exclusion from singing at the Cannes Film Festival, on the pretext that he is “Egyptian”.
“I was very happy to participate in the official album for the Africa Cup of Nations before the start of the competitions, and I traveled to Marrakech, but they informed me that my singing segment at the opening ceremony would be postponed until the closing ceremony.”
“They told me that the decision to postpone came in light of a campaign questioning how an Egyptian could sing at the opening of a tournament held in Morocco.”
“I am African, and this is a continental championship held in Africa, yet I showed great flexibility and agreed to sing at the closing ceremony.”
“But my agent informed me that there was something strange about the Moroccan side not contacting him, 24 hours before the tournament final.”
“I sent a message to the person in charge from Morocco, and I found him sending me a video clip of the media personality Amr Adib talking about a problem with an artistic director.”
He added, surprised, “What is my connection to this video? What does art have to do with this matter? But the lesson I want to clarify is that what the Moroccan person did was an individual act that bothered me, but it does not diminish my love, respect, and appreciation for Morocco.”
“I had a number of engagements canceled to attend the closing ceremony and perform the musical segment, but they didn’t even bother to apologize to me 24 hours in advance,” he stressed.
