The renowned Lebanese singer, actress, and performer Carole Samaha has stirred up some controversy after posting an Instagram reel while cuddling a lion cub.
As her birthday present, the singer was apparently gifted the lion cub by Egyptian composer and friend, Mohamed Rahim.
The reason behind this specific gift is that Carole’s zodiac sign is Leo, which is represented by the lion, and she captioned her post “Are you ready for Leo season?”
Towards the end of the reel, the singer stated that the lion cub is approximately a month old and that when he hits the 6 months mark he will probably be in a cage.
This steered up a lot of controversy regarding animal rights and the topic of keeping wild animals as house pets.
Her Instagram and Twitter flooded with comments denouncing such acts.
Aziza Sibaha, a French news anchor, tweeted: “I know that in my network there are people that are close to Carole Samaha. So here is my message: wild animals are not toys. A lion cub that is one month old is an endangered species that should be protected and needs to stay with his mom. Not a toy that we give as a gift.”
The backlash got so heated that the comments in the initial Instagram reel had to be turned off.
However, it turns out that the cub was not actually a gift to Samaha and indeed it still lives with its mom in the Egyptian national circus.
As both Carole and Mohamed clarified, “This baby lion lives with his mother, not in my house!!” and “the lady who was filming this video is the trainer of the Lion and she is treating him because he has health issues since he was born.”
The singer put an end to this controversy by posting on her Instagram stories to clarify once again that the cub lives with his mom and that people should learn to speak with kindness before denouncing others.
Find the reel in question below:
