Adam Saleh
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Adam Saleh | ||||||||||
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![]() Adam Saleh at 2016 show in Oslo, Norway | ||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||
Born | Adam Mohsin Yehya Saleh June 4, 1993[1] | |||||||||
Occupation | YouTuber | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
Channels | Adam Saleh Vlogs Adam Saleh | |||||||||
Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
Genre(s) | Vlogs, pranks | |||||||||
Subscribers | 4.82 million (Adam Saleh) 4.83 million (Adam Saleh Vlogs) | |||||||||
Total views | 262.19 million (Adam Saleh) 1.41 billion (Adam Saleh Vlogs) | |||||||||
Associated acts | ||||||||||
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Last updated: June 19, 2020 |
Adam Mohsin Yehya Saleh (ادم محسن يحيى صالح /ˈsælə/ SAL-ə; born June 4, 1993) is a Yemeni-American YouTube personality from New York City.[3][4][5][6]
Life and career
Adam Saleh was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Yemeni parents.[7] He went to Manhattan Center For Science and Mathematics High School during his first three years, but transferred to Al-Madinah School during his fourth year after being expelled for hitting his dean's computer, as a response to him being racist towards his mother.[8] He started making YouTube videos in 2012[7] as a part of his YouTube channel "TrueStoryASA" with his high school friends Abdullah Ghuman & Sheikh Akbar. His main career aspiration was to become a lawyer. He was an amateur boxer and was decent as he had a 13-18 record to begin but later had his fighting license revoked due to a street fight video gone viral on Worldstar which had ended his boxing career. He gained nationwide popularity when he appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show show for his dancing antics. The day his Ellen show appearance was to happen, he had a final test, but chose to go on Ellen; he later described this as the turning point in his career as a full-time Youtuber.[9]
Saleh became part of another collaborative channel "3MH" with Sheikh Akbar, Karim Metwaly and Slim Albaher. TrueStoryASA and 3MH split up in May 2015. After TruestoryASA ended, Saleh took over both the main and vlog channels and renamed them "Adam Saleh" and "Adam Saleh Vlogs". There was a lot of controversy about why the groups had split up, some rumors say it was between Saleh and Akbar why the problem had occurred and many of Saleh's fans blame his manager for the split.[10] Since then he has created many videos as a solo YouTuber. He has also appeared in the American buddy cop comedy-drama action film American Sharia.[citation needed]
Saleh first released the single "Diamond Girl" on May 3, 2015 featuring Sheikh Akbar and Mumzy Stranger as a part of TrueStoryASA.[11] On August 16, 2015 he released his debut solo single "Tears" featuring Zack Knight as a tribute to his cousin and her father who was his dear uncle. Saleh’s uncle had died from a car accident just a few days before his cousin's wedding. Saleh describes his uncle as a very happy person and was an important member of his family and when he died in such circumstances it left their family in grief. The way his uncle had died had left an emotional scar as Saleh's has stated in the past that it one of the reasons why he does not have a drivers license.[12] On September 2017, Saleh released his debut album called Chapter II featuring collaborations with many artists including "Waynak" (with Faydee),"Tsunami","All About Love", "The Motto" (with Kennyon Brown), "All You Can Handle" (with Demarco) etc. On February 18, 2018, he accepted the challenge to be KSI's next boxing opponent.[9]
Controversies
A staged video titled "Racial Profiling Experiment'" uploaded on Saleh's YouTube channel in October 2014 became popular around the world. In the video, Saleh and Sheikh Akbar argued with each other in front of a police officer wearing western outfits but the cop ignored them. Shortly thereafter, they fight again while dressed in Traditional clothes but this time the cop stops them and behaves rudely with them. The video received more than 200,000 views on YouTube and it was also picked up by media. Public reaction to the video was against the police officer. Later Saleh said that the video was staged to recreate "previous events that occurred", and it was being shown as an example to others about how these things can happen to people on the streets only if they are dressed in a 'different' way.[13] The New York chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), which had previously tweeted out the video as an example of discrimination against Muslims, demanded an apology from Saleh and Akbar stating "Muslims are already under the microscope and to do this just to gain some cheap publicity is totally unacceptable. There should be no attempt to justify it; they should just apologize and ask people to forgive them for their irresponsible actions."[13]
In another YouTube video, Saleh claimed to have flown inside a suitcase in the baggage hold on a Tigerair flight from Melbourne to Sydney.[14] However, Melbourne Airport security footage proved the incident was a hoax after they produced video showing Saleh boarding the plane with the airline noting that a bag of his weight would not be loaded on the plane without investigation nor would a passenger in the plane's unheated cargo hold emerge sweating.[15]
In December 2016, Saleh posted videos in which he claimed he was removed from a Delta Air Lines flight at Heathrow Airport for speaking Arabic.[16] However, other passengers have spoken out, claiming that Saleh was disturbing other passengers,[17][18][19] and Delta's own statement said that Saleh was shouting and provoking others.[6] Saleh's claim has caused a debate over the "Right to Fly".[20]
In 2018, Saleh, as well as many other YouTubers, were involved in a BBC Trending investigation for promoting the website EduBirdie, which lets users buy essays (promoting cheating).[21]
In July of 2020, Saleh posted a TikTok where it depicted him kissing a girl. This caused a backlash against him for his actions. His friends and family members also expressed their disapproval of Saleh's actions on social media. Saleh later said in a video posted on Albaher's channel that even if he did not kiss the girl and instead hugged her or did not touch her physically, he would have still received backlash. He also expressed his distaste and displeasure for preacher Ali Dawah, calling him a "phony" and preferring Mufti Menk over him due to Dawah's videos criticizing Saleh and his fanbase.[22]
In August 2020, Saleh got involved with several ex-Muslims, including Apostate Prophet. He made up with Ali Dawah.[23] This was one of the events which resulted in reactionary desecration of the Quran. He was also known to have used several dishonest tactics in the saga.[24]
Songs
Albums
Title and details | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chapter II
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Songs and music videos
- 2015: "Diamond Girl" (with Sheikh Akbar feat. Mumzy Stranger)
- 2015: "Tears" (feat. Zack Knight)
- 2015: "Tomorrow's Another Day" (feat. Mumzy Stranger)
- 2017 "All You Can Handle" (feat. Demarco)
- 2017 "Waynak" (feat. Faydee)
- 2017: "Partner in Crime" (with Slim)
- 2017: "Gimme That" (feat. Zack Knight)
- 2017: "The Motto" (feat. Kennyon Brown)
- 2018: "Instagram Famous" (Adam Saleh x Zack Knight)
- 2020: "Ya Ghayeb" (Adam Saleh)
- 2020: "Crash & Burn" (Adam Saleh x Zack Knight)
Featured in
- 2017: "On My Way" (James Yammouni & Faydee feat. Adam Saleh)
References
- ^ @omgAdamSaleh (June 4, 2018). "Tweet" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Leskin, Paige (February 20, 2020). "A day with YouTube prankster Adam Saleh proved that the internet's A-listers have reached celebrity status". Business Insider. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
- ^ https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11768595
- ^ "Prankster 'kicked off flight for speaking Arabic' - Delta Air Lines defends actions". Telegraph. December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
- ^ "YouTube prankster Adam Saleh says Delta booted him for speaking Arabic". USA Today. December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
- ^ a b "Adam Saleh: YouTube star 'wasn't speaking Arabic on phone when kicked off Delta flight', passenger claims". The Independent. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
Delta said in a statement: "...This type of conduct is not welcome on any Delta flight. While one, according to media reports, is a known prankster who was video recorded and encouraged by his travelling companion, what is paramount to Delta is the safety and comfort of our passengers and employees".
- ^ a b "Exclusive: Adam Saleh on his new hip-hop single and his UAE shows in December". Thenational.ae. Saeed Saeed. August 16, 2014. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
- ^ "Rizq Podcast #006 - Adam Saleh | Sheikh Akbar, Being Mobbed in London, Delta Airlines Controversy". YouTube. February 21, 2020. Archived from the original on September 26, 2019. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
- ^ a b "Who is Adam Saleh and could he be the next YouTuber to fight KSI?". Metro. February 19, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
- ^ "TrueStoryASA split". BBC. May 15, 2015. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
- ^ "True Story ASA's Adam Saleh and Sheikh Akbar release first single". Thenational.ae. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
- ^ Saeed Saaed (August 13, 2015). "Exclusive: Adam Saleh on his new hip-hop single and his UAE shows in December". Thenational.ae. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
- ^ a b Kuruvilla, Carol (October 20, 2014). "Muslim Vloggers Come Clean About Staged Stop-And-Frisk Video (UPDATE)". HuffPost. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Saleh, Adam. "I Smuggled Myself On A Plane to Another City and IT WORKED!!! (IN A SUITCASE)". Youtube.
- ^ Schwartz, Kirrily. "Tigerair slams YouTuber Adam Saleh over prank". news.au.com.
- ^ McCarthy, Ciara (December 21, 2016). "YouTube star kicked off Delta Air Lines flight 'for speaking Arabic'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Schladebeck, Jessica (December 22, 2016). "Delta passengers dispute Adam Saleh's discrimination claims". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
- ^ Wang, Amy B. (December 21, 2016). "YouTube star known for pranks claims he was kicked off Delta flight for speaking Arabic". www.washingtonpost.com.
- ^ Beatrice Verhoeven (December 22, 2016). "6 Delta Passengers Dispute YouTube Star Adam Saleh's Story About Getting Kicked Off Flight". yahoo.com.
- ^ Negroni, Christine. "In Any Language, Adam Saleh Doesn't Have A Right To Fly". Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ Branwen Jeffreys; Main, Edward (May 1, 2018). "The YouTube stars being paid to sell cheating". BBC News. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
- ^ Albaher, Slim (July 27, 2020). "The Adam Saleh Intervention". YouTube. Archived from the original on August 1, 2020.
- ^ "Muslims Say I Should Be Killed". youtube.com. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ "Adam Saleh & Mohammed Hijab (Muslims) VS. Apostate Prophet (Ex-Muslim) - Review".