Several actors spread pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel messages at the annual Emmy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles and touted a boycott of the Israeli film industry on Sunday night amid the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
Hannah Einbinder, who is Jewish and won best supporting actress in a comedy for “Hacks,” ended her speech by cursing the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and adding: “Free Palestine.”
Political sentiments from the stage were otherwise rare.
But backstage, Einbinder told the press, “I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors, right now in the north of Gaza, to provide care for pregnant women, and for schoolchildren to create schools in the refugee camps.”
“It’s an issue that’s really close to my heart for many reasons. I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel because our religion and our culture is such an important and longstanding institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state.”
Einbinder highlighted her commitment to The Film Workers for Palestine pledge not to work with the Israeli film industry, calling it “an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment.”
The pledge to not work with Israeli film institutions that “are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people” has garnered over 4,000 signatories and was condemned by Paramount Studios on Saturday.
“We do not agree with recent efforts to boycott Israeli filmmakers. Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace,” Paramount’s statement read.
Israel vehemently denies accusations of genocide, saying it is fighting to destroy Hamas after the October 7, 2023 massacre that killed some 1,200 people and took another 251 hostages, that it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities during the war, and that Hamas uses civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
On the red carpet, Einbinder’s fellow “Hacks” star Megan Stalter held a bag with “Cease fire!” written on it.
Actor Javier Bardem wore a Palestinian keffiyeh and made lengthy remarks about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bardem highlighted the allegation by the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the war is a genocide, urging a “commercial and diplomatic blockade” and sanctions on Israel, adding: “Free Palestine.”
Pro-Israel critics denounced the declaration, saying the group’s membership and voting are open to people who are not genocide experts, while a genocide scholar and member of the association said that the resolution was passed without a town hall discussion.
Bardem touted a pledge signed by himself and over 4,000 filmmakers to not work with any Israeli institution that hasn’t disavowed the war, rejecting a statement by the Paramount production firm that criticized the push.
“We do not target individuals by their identity,” he claimed, even though the pledge only demands disavowal of the war from Israelis. “What we target are those complicit film companies and institutions that are involved in whitewashing or justifying the genocide of Israel in Gaza and its apartheid regime.”
Bardem, nominated for best supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie for “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” vowed to “never work” with firms “not condemning the genocide in Gaza, adding that if he subsequently gets fewer roles, this would be “absolutely irrelevant compared to what is going on there.”
Emily Austin, a US social media influencer, attended the red carpet with a yellow ribbon on her purse, in solidarity with the 48 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.
Several open letters signed by prominent figures from the worlds of cinema, music, and literature have been published as pressure mounts on the Israeli government to end the nearly two-year war against Hamas in Gaza, and urgently address the humanitarian crisis there.
AP contributed to this report.