It’s been almost a month since the conflict between Israel and Palestine intensified. On October 7, Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that has responded with even more despicable aggressions towards Gaza and the West Strip, aka Palestine.
Being a world event, people, including celebrities have used their social media platforms to condemn or support either group. However, in the past weeks, the support towards Palestine has been overwhelming to the point that platforms like TikTok have cleared up that they are not meddling with their algorithm, unlike what many Israel supporters claim.
While many celebrities condemned Hamas for the attack on October 7, despite the backlash, many others have been pouring their support for Palestine, deeming Israel’s aggression as a colonial genocide. Some of these celebrities’ protests have been met with anger in Hollywood to the point that many have been fired from their jobs for that reason.
Celebrities Fired for Supporting Palestine
One of the first celebrities who was laid off from several projects was Mia Khalifa, who, truth be told, did make some offensive comments. However, it seems that Hollywood is not partial to other celebrities, who are only expressing their beliefs and thoughts in a cruel and violent conflict that has taken way more Palestinian victims.
Just today, three more cases of celebs fired for showing their support came to life. Firstly, actress Melissa Barrera was reportedly fired from Scream VII. The actress, who starred in 2022’s Scream and Scream I, was fired for her comments supporting Palestine. One of them reads as follows:
“Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity no water … People have learned nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”
Spyglass, the studio in charge of the franchise confirmed the news by saying they have “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.”
Another victim of Hollywood’s “moral standards” has been legendary actress Susan Sarandon, who was dropped by United Talent Agency, the agency representing her. Allegedly this happened following her comments regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict and her participation in a pro-Palestine rally in New York.
“There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,” reads one of Sarandon’s social media posts.
Last but not least, CAA agent Maha Dakhil also left her job as one of the top agents in the industry. Maha posted on her Instagram stories: “You’re currently learning who supports genocide. That’s the line for me.” The CAA immediately fired her from her position as co-chief of the motion pictures department, although they allowed her to keep her job as an agent, which she denied.
Although met with some backlash, Maha Dakhil’s stance has been applauded and backed by many, including her most important client, Tom Cruise, who attended the CAA along with other celebrities and co-workers to support her and condemn the CAA’s decision. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one laid off from the agency for the same reason.
Hollywood’s Hypocrisy
The thing here is that although Hollywood loves painting itself as a woke, understanding, and neutral industry it’s been clear that they’re completely biased. While these and many more people have been fired and black-listed by Hollywood for supporting a cause, many others, who are even mocking the situation, aren’t measured with the same ruler.
Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, even posted a photo holding some really problematic stickers that read “Zionism is sexy” and “Hamas is ISIS” which is completely inaccurate, as we explained here. Gal Gadot promoted a propaganda film without serious repercussions, and the list could go on and on.
So, what is it with the hypocrisy in Hollywood? As author Saira Rao smartly said “Hollywood is punishing people of color for speaking out. It’s disgusting.” But it goes beyond that, it seems that Hollywood has bought the wrong idea that condemning Israel is automatically an anti-semitic act, when, in fact, a lot of people from the Jewish community have been condemning these attacks as genocide for decades.
