Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes

2021/06/07 by Ala’ Alrababa’h, William Marble, Salma Mousa +1 · 1 voice · 125 citations
Computer Science · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Elite #Feeling #Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection #Law #Media Influence and Politics #Political science #Prejudice (legal term) #Psychology #Salience (neuroscience) #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Social psychology #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0003055421000423

published in American Political Science Review 115(4), 1111-1128 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2021/06/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04

Abstract

Can exposure to celebrities from stigmatized groups reduce prejudice? To address this question, we study the case of Mohamed Salah, a visibly Muslim, elite soccer player. Using data on hate crime reports throughout England and 15 million tweets from British soccer fans, we find that after Salah joined Liverpool F.C., hate crimes in the Liverpool area dropped by 16% compared with a synthetic control, and Liverpool F.C. fans halved their rates of posting anti-Muslim tweets relative to fans of other top-flight clubs. An original survey experiment suggests that the salience of Salah’s Muslim identity enabled positive feelings toward Salah to generalize to Muslims more broadly. Our findings provide support for the parasocial contact hypothesis—indicating that positive exposure to out-group celebrities can spark real-world behavioral changes in prejudice.

Citations

• A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory.
• Intergroup contact as a tool for reducing, resolving, and preventing intergroup conflict: Evidence, limitations, and potential.
• Seeing the World Through the Other's Eye: An Online Intervention Reducing Ethnic Prejudice

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Discussions

• Day 2/39 After Mohamed Salah joined Liverpool, local hate crimes fell 16% vs. a synthetic control and fans' anti-Muslim tweets halved — celebrity exposure can reduce real-world prejudice. Alrababa'h [bsky, 16 points, 0 comments]

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