Actor, writer and rapper Riz Ahmed aka Riz MC posted a picture with Malala Yousafzai and it was picked up by well, everyone.
But it was Malala’s tweet that got our attention. She wrote: “From one PPE student to another, I had a great time listening to rizmc speak this weekend.”Beyond making a mark as a speaker, the actor spoke to NPR recently and made some interesting points.
Speaking about work, he noted, “I didn’t perform for about four years, because I was terrified that if anyone ever heard me say things like that, I might get locked up.He added: “I might get tarred as a terrorism apologist, as a radical. And it’s really interesting, the limitations that we place on ourselves. And when I did first rap it to someone, to my friend, and he was like, ‘Yo, that’s the s*** you should be putting out.’ And I was like, ‘Really? I’ve been scared to say that to people.’ So ever since then I’ve reminded myself: It’s never a good time. If you wait until there’s a perfect time, there’s a perfect atmosphere to say something — you should just assume you’re always going to piss someone off, and then do it anyway.”
When asked if he feels nervous talking about ideas when appearing on talk shows, said Riz: “I guess maybe on some level I do feel like: ‘Oh man, maybe there aren’t a lot of people like me doing this, so I do feel a certain responsibility to represent or whatever. But coming with that, and speaking to your point of being knocked off of pedestals and disappointing people, you can’t ever represent everyone’s point of view. The idea that I can ... that any given film given whether it’s like Bend it like Beckham or East Is East or The Big Sick or Goodness Gracious Me or The Night of, can satisfy an experience of a billion Muslims around the world, or however many million South Asians there are in America, that in itself is patronizing, and it’s an unfair burden to place. But I think the one responsibility you have is to try and be your full self. And that’s going to disappoint certain people. I’m not religious enough for certain people, I’m too religious for other people, I’ve taken my shirt off too much for certain people, I’m not taking it enough for others, you know’.”