‘Hot Houthi’ tells admirers to stop gushing over his looks
A YEMENI social media influencer dubbed the “hot Houthi pirate” has told his admirers to stop gushing over his good looks.
Rashid Al Haddad has gone viral on social media after sharing footage of himself aboard hijacked container ships, being nicknamed “Timhouthi Chalamet” because of his resemblance to the actor Timothée Chalamet.
But he has now asked his tens of thousands of followers to focus on the war in Gaza – not his looks.
“I didn’t talk about beauty or anything else, but our cause is Palestine, and this is not the time to talk about beauty,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“I hope that my message reaches you, a free Palestine, and we ignite it against the Israeli aggression that violates human rights.”
Mr Al Haddad has shared multiple videos of himself and other young men aboard the Bahamian-flagged, Japan-chartered Galaxy Leader container ship first boarded by the Houthis on Nov 19.
The ship’s 25 crew members all remain in captivity, while the Iranian-backed
rebels have opened up the vessel for tour groups.
The videos are part of a wider phenomenon of documenting the Red Sea conflict online, where Houthi pirates have routinely posted videos of their raids on the Telegram messaging app.
Mr Al Haddad first posted footage from the vessel on his Instagram on Nov 29 and has since regularly reshared videos from the car carrier.
He has described himself as “ready for sacrifice and eager for martyrdom” and said the Houthis “will bomb all Israeli ships”.
Mr Al Haddad has also posed in photos posted on social media which show him wearing brown khaki webbing and others with an AK-47 slung over his shoulder.
But he does not appear to be a genuine Houthi pirate and has not shared any footage of the actual hijacking of the Galaxy Leader or from on board any other vessels.
He describes himself on Threads – Meta’s rival to X – as a “media personality, actor and photographer”.
Mr Al Haddad has 27,000 followers on Instagram and 10,000 on X, and has amassed thousands of views on Tiktok.
Some of his followers have made art depicting him, while one has even set up a fan account on X.
‘I didn’t talk about beauty, but our cause is Palestine, and this is not the time to talk about beauty’