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

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  • ALRABABA’H, ALA’
  • MARBLE, WILLIAM
  • MOUSA, SALMA
  • SIEGEL, ALEXANDRA A.

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Alrababa’H, Ala’ & Marble, William & Mousa, Salma & Siegel, Alexandra A., 2021. "Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 115(4), pages 1111-1128, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:apsrev:v:115:y:2021:i:4:p:1111-1128_2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Alrababah, Ala & Delouis-Jost, Maelle & Gauthier, Germain & Polak, Adam, 2025. "Cycling through Elections: The Political Consequences of the Tour de France," SocArXiv fj4vh_v1, Center for Open Science.
    4. Anjali Adukia & Alex Eble & Emileigh Harrison & Hakizumwami Birali Runesha & Teodora Szasz, 2023. "What We Teach About Race and Gender: Representation in Images and Text of Children’s Books," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 138(4), pages 2225-2285.
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    7. Alexander Cardazzi & Joshua C. Martin & Zachary Rodriguez, 2023. "Information shocks and celebrity exposure: The effect of “Magic” Johnson on AIDS diagnoses and mortality in the U.S," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(9), pages 2047-2079, September.
    8. Brülhart, Marius & Klinke, Gian-Paolo & Marcucci, Andrea & Rohner, Dominic & Thoenig, Mathias, 2023. "Price and Prejudice: Housing Rents Reveal Racial Animus," CEPR Discussion Papers 18050, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Clay Collins, 2026. "Emotional Cues, Election Outcomes, and Intimate Partner Violence," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 107-135, January.
    10. Alrababah, Ala & Marble, William & Mousa, Salma & Siegel, Alexandra Arons, 2024. "Are Minorities Punished More Harshly for Underperformance? Evidence from Premier League Soccer," OSF Preprints 7d2cu, Center for Open Science.
    11. CARR, Joel, 2022. "BLM protests and racial hate crime in the United States," Working Papers 2022008, University of Antwerp, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    12. Sangyeon Kim, 2024. "Understanding political communication and political communicators on Twitch," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(11), pages 1-27, November.
    13. Ferrando, Mery & Gille, Véronique, 2025. "Does the identity of leaders matter for education? Evidence from the first black governor in the US," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    14. Bray, Kerry & Braakmann, Nils & Wildman, John, 2024. "Austerity, welfare cuts and hate crime: Evidence from the UK's age of austerity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    15. Byunghwan Son, 2024. "Foreign pop-culture and backlash: the case of non-fan K-pop Subreddits during the pandemic," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 48(1), pages 117-143, March.
    16. Nishat Anjum & Sujoy Chakravarty, 2025. "Using Laboratory and Field Experiments to Examine the Impact of Stereotypes," Studies in Indian Politics, , vol. 13(1), pages 150-157, June.

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