Cabaret Paulikevitch in Beirut became a flashpoint in 2025, when Lebanese dancer and artivist Alexandre Paulikevitch faced threats and incitement from both Christian and Islamist extremists over his baladi performance. Despite calls to ban the show and online campaigns depicting his work as “perversion”, the September 11 cabaret went ahead to a sold-out audience at Metro Al-Madina, turning the stage into a rare moment of public resistance for queer-coded dance and artistic freedom in Lebanon