Last week, Pornhub announced that adult film actress Mia Khalifa beat out Lisa Ann as the most popular porn star on the streaming video site.
Mia Khalifa is a 21-year-old Lebanese-born college student, currently living in Florida.
She describes herself on her Instagram as the "unofficial mascot of the Florida State Seminoles." She's currently working with the porn production company Bang Bros.
As news of Khalifa's popularity spread through Lebanese social media, however, many were completely outraged.
@miakhalifa This will be so funny when you die and find out there is a God hahahahahaha
@mariaisab3lla Mia Khalifa is a disgrace, she's terrible.
@miakhalifa you are a disgrace to lebanon and if you think that is close minded i advice you to commit suicide #stay-in-usa-ya-bala-sharaf
Feminist Lebanese writer Juliana Yazbeck was concerned about Khalifa's role in possibly fueling more sexism in conservative Lebanon, along with affecting the global opinion of Lebanese women:
For someone who has struggled so much to assert their presence as a human being with a working, thinking brain, I cannot deny that I felt a pang of despair when Mia erupted across social media and entertainment news. It never even crossed my mind to think, "she doesn't have the right." What did cross my mind was: "Really? Of the very few Lebanese women who are making global headlines, it had to be a porn star?"
Adding fuel to the controversy, in one of Khalifa's more popular videos, she and a Cuban porn star named Juliana Vega both wear hijabs while performing sex acts.
Many on Twitter attacked Khalifa for wearing the hijab, especially because she has a tattoo of the Lebanese Forces cross, a symbol for Lebanon's right-wing Christian political party, which evolved from a Christian militia in Lebanon's civil war.
sad part about Mia Khalifa filming a porno with a hijab is people are gonna see this and sexualize the hijab.
mia khalifa is a disgrace to the Islam religion . What sick person wears a hijab during a porno
@miakhalifa ok you are a bitch or porn star or whatever.. But dont wearing hijab when you do your vedios buz u Offend on it :)
Another one of her tattoos reads "Koullouna lil-watan, lil’oula lil-‘alam," the opening line of the Lebanese national anthem.
Regardless of the outrage though, she's quickly gaining a huge amount of fans online.
@miakhalifa when you have to watch in 240p so that the video can load #LebaneseProblems
I followed @miakhalifa on twitter so now all of Lebanon can too! You're welcome! Mia we love you! I hope to high five you soon one day!
Awesome to see @miakhalifa holding it down for Lebanese feminists! Not gonna watch her vids though cuz she might be a cousin
Khalifa has tweeted about receiving death threats from Lebanese Twitter users, but that doesn't appear to be giving her any second thoughts about her success.
She's brushed off the use of the hijab and many of her more vocal detractors. "Doesn't the Middle East have more important things to worry about besides me?" she tweeted earlier this week.
“@AbdxlA: @miakhalifa When the producer first talked to you about doing a scene with a hijab, what was your reaction?” "I hate you guys."
Doesn't the Middle East have more important things to worry about besides me? How about finding a president? Or containing ISIS?
“@abdallahbakrr: @miakhalifa ur head will be cut soon inshallah” long as it's not my tits. They were expensive.
Juliana Vega is Cuban, and this post has been updated to reflect her nationality.
"Mia Khalifa has become a household name in the last few weeks since BangBros released her first feature Look who’s cumming to dinner," Corey Price, vice president of Pornhub, told BuzzFeed News. "We first noticed Mia the week of November 16th, where we saw over 200,000 searches for the previous unknown."
Price said that media exposure of Khalifa has only expanded her huge profile. They've seen over 750,000 searches for her since Saturday. And "Mia Khalifa" has been the top search term worldwide on PornMD and Pornhub since Sunday.