Egyptian singer Mohamed Ramadan's image projected in Times Square the same weekend he is sentenced to a year in prison

The singer's new single 'Tik Tok' was promoted in the world's most famous square

Mohamed Ramadan's image was projected in New York's Times Square. Instagram / Mohamed Ramadan

An image of Mohamed Ramadan was projected on to one of the world's most famous landmarks, Times Square in New York City, to promote his new song, Tik Tok, the same weekend the Egyptian megastar was sentenced to a year in prison.

Ramadan was sentenced to 12 months in jail by an Egyptian court for slander, after he posted a video inside the cockpit of a private plane, which caused pilot Ashraf Abou El Yousr to be fired and have his licence revoked.

The video, which went viral, showed Ramadan pretend to operate the plane and was confirmed by The Civil Aviation Authority to be authentic. According to reports, Yousr did not realise a video was being taken and did not give permission for it to be posted online.

The ruling came as a clip from the music video for Ramadan’s latest single, which features American Rapper and DJ Super Sako, was played in Times Square. The song has achieved huge success in the US and across the Arab world, thanks to its popularity on its namesake social media platform.

Over the weekend the song was given a further boost, thanks to a snippet from the recently released music video being projected on to one of Times Squares' famous video boards. The music video for Tik Tok was made as a collaboration between the TikTok app and Egyptian director Hossam El Hosseiny.

Ramadan has made a habit of releasing songs that capture what society is currently talking about, with Tik Tok following on from his single Coronavirus, which has been viewed millions of times on YouTube. On Instagram alone, it received more than three million views in less than 24 hours, while on Facebook it has had 6.5m views.

The song seems to send a message of encouragement to listeners, saying "we will find a solution".

Ramadan – who recently celebrated getting 12m followers on Instagram – is also known for his acting and is currently starring in the show Prince.

He recently met some criticism after he tore up an Egyptian passport in the show, while playing the lead character, Radhwan.

On April 27, Egyptian lawyer Ayman Mahfouz filed a legal complaint against Ramadan over the scene, but in the show, the character actually destroys his passport in a bid to demonstrate that his home is in Egypt.

Mahfouz reportedly accused the star of "working to insult all the symbols of the Egyptian state.”