[News] Stars turn Emmys red carpet into a call to end Gaza genocide

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/stars-turn-emmys-red-carpet-into-a-call-to-end-gaza-genocide>
Stars turn Emmys red carpet into a call to end Gaza genocide
Al Mayadeen English
September 14, 2025
------------------------------

Hannah Einbinder, Ruth Negga, Chris Perfetti, and Aimee Lou Wood have
attended the ceremony sporting red pins from the Artists4Ceasefire campaign.

   - [image: Stars turn Emmys red carpet into a call to end Gaza genocide]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2025/9/15/c5e68e5a-7623-448a-8d18-d98607bcbaa8.jpg?v=4&width=1000>
   Javier Bardem arrives at the 77th Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025 at
   the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles wearing a Palestinian Koufiyyeh in
   solidarity with Gaza (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision for the Television
   Academy/AP Content Services)

This year’s Emmy Awards ceremony became an unprecedented platform for
condemning the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/health/doctors-report-alarming-pattern-of-gaza-children-shot-in-hea>,
as several actors used speeches and symbolic gestures to voice solidarity
with the Palestinian people
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/famine--massacres--and-relentless-strikes-turning-gaza-to--w>
.

While accepting the award for best supporting actress in a comedy for
Hacks, Hannah Einbinder delivered a pointed conclusion to her speech. After
sharply criticizing US immigration authorities and denouncing the
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, she closed with a clear appeal:
“Free Palestine".

Before the show began, Einbinder’s co-star, Megan Stalter, made her stance
clear, carrying a bag on the red carpet emblazoned with the words “Cease
fire!”

Hannah Einbinder, Ruth Negga, Chris Perfetti, and Aimee Lou Wood attended
the ceremony sporting red pins from the Artists4Ceasefire campaign.

Actor Javier Bardem, nominated for best supporting actor in a limited or
anthology series or movie for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,
appeared wearing a Palestinian Koufiyyeh. Speaking to *The Hollywood
Reporter*, he strongly criticized “Israel’s” genocide in Gaza, citing the
International Association of Genocide Scholars’ admission that it amounts
to genocide. Bardem called for a “commercial and diplomatic blockade” and
sanctions on the Israeli occupation, closing with the appeal: “Free
Palestine.”

The Spanish star also highlighted a pledge signed by himself and more than
4,000 filmmakers, committing not to collaborate with Israeli institutions
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/1-200--film-figures-vow-boycott-of--israel--over-gaza-genoci>
unless they distance themselves from the war.

“We do not target individuals by their identity,” he said, explaining that
the boycott focuses on “complicit film companies and institutions involved
in whitewashing or justifying the genocide of Israel in Gaza and its
apartheid regime.”

Bardem went further, vowing he would “never work” with any production firm
that fails to condemn the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. He acknowledged
the stance might impact his career but dismissed the risk, saying that if
it meant fewer roles, that would be “absolutely irrelevant compared to what
is going on there.”

As the Israeli-made famine in Gaza worsens by the day, a growing number of
prominent stars are voicing support for Palestine. Bardem, Wood, and
Einbinder are among the actors who have pledged to boycott Israeli
companies and institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and
apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
Film figures vow boycott of 'Israel' over Gaza genocide

Hundreds of actors, directors, and film workers have pledged not to
collaborate with Israeli cultural institutions they say are complicit in
“genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/hollywood-slams-academy-silence-on-assaulted-palestinian-fil>
,” *The Guardian* reported last week.

“As film-makers, actors, film industry workers, and institutions, we
recognise the power of cinema to shape perceptions,” the statement reads.
“In this urgent moment of crisis, where many of our governments are
enabling the carnage in Gaza, we must do everything we can to address
complicity in that unrelenting horror.”

The initiative has drawn more than 1,200 signatories, including directors
Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Boots Riley, and Joshua
Oppenheimer. Prominent actors such as Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda
Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Josh O’Connor, Cynthia
Nixon, Julie Christie, Ilana Glazer, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Lou Wood, and
Debra Winger also backed the call.

The pledge cites inspiration from the cultural boycott that helped end
apartheid in South Africa.
What the pledge entails

Signatories commit to avoiding
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/350--hollywood-actors-condemn-gaza-genocide-ahead-of-cannes>
 screenings, appearances, or cooperation with institutions, including
festivals, cinemas, broadcasters, and production companies, that they deem
complicit. Examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide
and apartheid
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-famine-kills-393--including-140-children--as-genocide-i>,
and/or partnering with the government committing them.”

“We answer the call of Palestinian film-makers, who have urged the
international film industry to refuse silence, racism, and dehumanisation,
as well as to ‘do everything humanly possible’ to end complicity in their
oppression,” the statement continues.

The campaign is spearheaded by Film Workers for Palestine. Among those who
joined is screenwriter David Farr, who linked his stance to his own family
history. “As the descendant of Holocaust survivors, I am distressed and
enraged by the actions of the Israeli state,” he said. “In this context, I
cannot support my work being published or performed in Israel. The cultural
boycott was significant in South Africa. It will be significant this time
and in my view should be supported by all artists of conscience.”
Targets of boycott

An FAQ accompanying the pledge identifies "Israel’s" leading festivals,
including the Jerusalem Film Festival, Haifa International Film Festival,
Docaviv, and TLVFest, as examples of institutions tied to the occupation
entity
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/netflix-under-fire-over-removal-of-palestinian-movies>.
It states that most Israeli film production and distribution companies
“have never endorsed the full, internationally recognised rights of the
Palestinian people.”

While the statement does not explicitly reference the Boycott, Divestment,
and Sanctions (BDS) movement, it is among the most significant cultural
boycott initiatives
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/art-culture/cannes-filmmakers-push-france-to-own-up-to-colonial-past>
 launched since "Israel’s" current war on Gaza began. It also draws on
precedents such as Filmmakers United Against Apartheid, founded in 1987 by
Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese, and others who refused to screen their
work in apartheid-era South Africa.
Part of wider cultural pushback

The campaign comes amid a surge of industry activism against the ongoing
Israeli genocide in Gaza. Earlier this summer, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro
Pascal, Ralph Fiennes, and Guillermo del Toro were among hundreds who
signed an open letter criticising the film industry’s silence.

Many of those figures also urged SAG-AFTRA last year to protect members
from blacklisting over their views on Palestine. The Actors’ Equity
Association has since advised members to avoid working with certain Israeli
cultural institutions.

Palestinian voices have also pressed the case. In 2023, more than 65
Palestinian
filmmakers
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/three-palestinian-films-achieve-historic-oscar-shortlisting>
 accused Hollywood of “dehumanizing” Palestinians on screen, urging
international peers to shun companies that “whitewash and justify Israel’s
crimes against us.”

That same spirit carried into this year’s Venice Film Festival, where The
Voice of Hind Rajab
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/hollywood-stars-back-gaza-film--the-voice-of-hind-rajab--at>,
a film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli occupation forces in
Gaza, earned a 23-minute standing ovation
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/gaza-film-at-venice-faces-hate-campaign-after-record-standin>.
Produced by Brad Pitt, Jonathan Glazer, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and
Alfonso Cuaron, the film became one of the festival’s most talked-about
works.

*Read more: Palestinian director at Cannes: Gaza filmmakers are 'the story'
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/Arts&Culture/palestinian-director-at-cannes--gaza-filmmakers-are--the-sto>*
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