Many have appeared on TV talk shows issuing their mea culpas, but Egyptian media critics have said their efforts are falling on deaf ears among the country’s burgeoning youth population seemingly fed up with the status quo. It has been reported that film stars and musicians who were put in the crosshairs by a disgruntled public have pulled out or postponed projects.

The mid-year school break is one of the peak seasons for new Egyptian films and telenovelas.

Talat Zakaria, who directed the popular Egyptian film  “The President's Cook” has postponed his latest work, “An Elephant in the Handkerchief,” reportedly because he was included on a blacklist compiled by members of the Tahrir Square movement. The widely published list is a who's who of movie stars, singers, writers and journalists who have been labeled jesters and propagandists of the court of Mubarak.

For his part, Zakaria has echoed the sentiment that the Egyptian movement is being manipulated by foreign forces. As usual, the accusation was not followed by any specifics, but Zakaria went as far as to say the protesters were paid 100 euros and given meals by the US fast food chain KFC to participate in the Jan. 25 movement.

“These youths were not prompted by national issues,” he said. “They were puppets of foreign powers who wanted to destabilize the country.” More recently, Zakaria tried to retract his statements and apologize to the youth on Al-Mihwar satellite channel program “360 Degrees.”

But the protesters aren't biting. They have resorted to referring to celebrities that have taken this U-turn as “The Transformers.”

Producers of the popular telenovela “Adam” are fearful they may not be able to sell the next season because one of the show's stars, singer Tamir Hosni, has been labeled a traitor to the anti-Mubarak movement. Hosni at first was critical of the anti-Mubarak protests and then tried to join in after momentum moved against the president. He was kicked out of Tahrir Square by protesters. He then released a collection of patriotic songs praising the movement, but sales fell flat after calls for a boycott.