Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Egyptian-Australian Muslim Wins Big At Australian Television Awards

There is no bigger prize in Australian television than the Logies and closing out its 58th edition, everyone is talking about the not one, but two awards Waleed Aly won.

Staff Writer

Egyptian-Australian Muslim Wins Big At Australian Television Awards

It’s not often that you hear about an Egyptian doing anything in Australia, but Egyptian-Australian writer, Waleed Aly, is a rising Muslim star, who is shining a little brighter today, thanks to his win of the coveted Gold Logie as well as the award for the Best Personality on Australian Television.

Co-hosting the popular Channel Ten’s The Project, Aly has quickly become a household name down under and surprisingly took home not one but two of the coveted awards at the 58th Logie Awards celebrating the best in Australian television.

No one was more surprised about the win than Aly himself who opened his speech with, "Do not adjust your sets … there's nothing wrong with the picture. I'm sure there's an Instagram filter you can use to return things to normal," he joked, adding "This is happening, it's true. Finally, a male presenter on commercial TV has won the Gold Logie."

Leading up to the competition many critics questioned Aly’s nomination claiming he is biased, but instead influencing his potential win, the criticism highlighted that xenophobia is often a prevalent issue down under. Aly, who is a Sunni Muslim with Egyptian parents, told the audience about a fan called Dimitri who urged him to take home the prize. "He came up to me and through gritted teeth commanded me to claim this award tonight. This really, really mattered to him. This really meant something to him," Aly said, adding, "It matters to them for a particular reason. That reason was brought home shudderingly not so long ago when someone who is in this room — and I'm not going to use the name they use in this industry — came up to me and said: 'I really hope you win. My name is Mustafa. But I can't use that name because I won't get a job.' And it matters to people like that that I am here."

(Photo by APP: Joe Castro)