Do we like Haifa Wehbe?
Our score: 6 out of 10. A 2009 lyric she apologised for is the one real mark, and the record on how she treats LGBTQ+ people and the planet is thin.
Haifa Wehbe is one of the Arab world's biggest pop names, a Lebanese singer and actress whose career has run across music, film and television. She is also a regular in the gossip pages, which tells you as much about the region's press as about her. That makes the harm check harder: a lot of coverage is about her image, not her views.
Her side of it matters. The Mail & Guardian reported that she apologised profusely, and that she said the songwriter told her the phrase was an “innocent term for a popular children's game.” Reading it as careless rather than hateful is fair. It still hurt people, and the reports we read don't say how the cases ended.
On the wider harm test, that is honestly the main item. We found no statements from her against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or climate action, and no record of her working with people who push harm. The flip side is that we found nothing showing her actively backing those groups either, so the pass has an asterisk and a thin file behind it.
Her bigger fights lately have been with Egyptian officialdom. In December 2025 an Egyptian administrative court cancelled the Musicians' Syndicate's decision barring her from performing there. The court found it had been made without legal grounds, an investigation or a hearing from her. Separately, in 2020 she went public after her former manager was arrested on suspicion of fraud. He was accused of taking up to US$4 million from her account, and she denied his claim that they were married.
The newest chapter is mostly noise. A sheer black lace look at the Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan drew online comment, and she answered with a sarcastic Instagram post saying attempts to damage her image would not change her presence. It says more about the pile-ons women in the public eye cop than about her character.