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Rabat – Four days after its release, YouTube has deleted the music video “Malhama: Abtal Al Watan” (A Saga: Heroes of the Nation) dedicated to Morocco 2026 because of a copyright claim by producer and director Hatim Naji.
The video, intended to hype up excitement for Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup, was released Friday and deleted Tuesday. Naji told Moroccan news outlet Hespress that he was obliged to report the music video for including scenes that he filmed himself.
The director added that he “did not receive any message from the team to ask for permission and negotiate the images used to show the city of Casablanca from above.”
Both the lyrics and the music video were widely mocked on social media; thousands of Moroccans characterized the music as lacking creativity.
The director of the song and Moroccan comedian Said Naciri spared no efforts to defend the song. Naciri labeled people criticizing the song as enemies of success and enemies of the Moroccan state.
Naciri said that “these people we call reptiles… it should have been enough for them to hear the word ‘king’ [in the song] it should have been enough that they heard the word nation, and saw a large number of artists. Still, they went and called it garbage. Shame.”
Moroccans expressed their anger and dissatisfaction over the video, saying that they had been waiting for something more fun and creative.
A Twitter user described the music video as “13 minuts [sic] of pure cancer.”
13 minuts of pure cancer ! https://t.co/yvN64mJQXb
— Ahmed EB-BANA (@Ahmedebbana) May 28, 2018
“I am disappointed but not surprised about the low quality of this Malhama,” said another.
Je suis déçu mais pas surpris de la basse qualité de cette Malhama, qui montre malheureusement la médiocrité de certains de nos “artistes” pour ne pas généraliser…
Ce n’est certainement pas avec ce genre “d’actions”, que notre dossier sera plus… https://t.co/bMdG1qiLSL— Benmoussa Med Karim (@benmoussakarim1) May 28, 2018
Some people have even celebrated the removing of the music video from YouTube.
“Thank you Hatim Naji! Thank you YouTube! They have removed the video of the thief Said Naciri,” wrote a Twitter user.
Merci Hatim Naji ! Merci Youtube ! Ils ont retiré la vidéo au voleur Saïd Naciri …???? https://t.co/KEIVtGbDN4
— 7didane (@7didane) May 30, 2018
