Rami Malek feared jail after Los Angeles Police Department officers reprimanded him because he “looked Latino”.
The Bohemian Rhapsody actor, who is of Egyptian descent, spoke about the ugly incident in an interview with The Guardian.
“I got thrown on the bonnet of an LAPD cop car because someone had robbed a liquor store and stolen a woman’s bag,” the Oscar-winner said.
“They said the (thief) was of Latin descent and, ‘You fit the description,'” the 43-year-old added. “I remember how hot that engine was, they must have been racing over there and it was almost burning my hands.”
The Mr. Robot star continued, “My friend, who was Caucasian, was clever enough to go, ‘Actually, sir, he’s Egyptian. Not Latin.’ I remember laughing on the cop car, thinking, ‘OK, this is a very precarious situation. I may well be going to jail for something I’ve not done.'”
Malek did not reveal when the incident took place, but implied it may have been before rose to superstardom by playing Queen frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, as he says he no longer gets similar trouble at airports over his Middle Eastern heritage.
“I started to think, ‘What is happening?’ every time I tried to enter a country,” he said, recalling his immigration issues. “These days, there might be a moment. Then they’ll go, ‘Nah, that’s the guy from Bohemian Rhapsody. Let him through.'”
