Ahmed Shawky’s resignation comes after a wave of anger erupted on social media against his appointment as artistic director of this year’s Cairo International Film Festival, scheduled to take place in November.
The advisory board of the event said it has accepted his resignation as its art director without elaborating on the reasons.
But Shawky has come under increasing criticism from activists and others who pointed to past comments made by him.
Among the most controversial posts that Shawky faced criticism over were his comments on the death of dozens of Egyptian football fans in a notorious riot, in which he used the term “culled.”
Seventy Ahly fans and a policeman were killed in the 2012 tragedy, the bloodiest event in Egypt’s football history.
Shawky’s resignation comes after activists threatened to write to foreign filmmakers invited to the festival to inform them of his history.
Following the recent backlash on social media, Shawky apologized this week, saying that he used “hurtful words” that were “painful to the families of the dead.”
He has since shut down his social media accounts.
