Moh Salah has helped reduce Islamophobia in Merseyside since he joined Liverpool FC.
The study, "Can Exposure to Celebrities Reduce Prejudice? The Effect of Mohamed Salah on Islamophobic Behaviors and Attitudes," was conducted by the Immigration Policy Lab at Stanford University. Ala' Alrababa'h, William Marble, Salma Mousa, and Alexandra Siegel-a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford's Immigration Policy Lab-found that since Salah had joined Liverpool FC, the hate crime rate in Liverpool has fallen by 18.9 percent. Moreover, Salah also made hate speech against Muslims on social media by Liverpool fans decreased drastically by 50 percent.
"When Liverpool fans were reminded that Salah is an observant Muslim, they were significantly more likely to say that Islam was compatible with British values," said Siegel in Stanford Magazine.
The researchers analyzed attitudes and behaviors using 936 country-month hate crime observations, 15 million tweets from UK football fans, and 8,600 Liverpool fans were surveyed before and after Salah joined, all of which showed a massive drop in anti-Muslim prejudice.
