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

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: News websites
Today 08:21

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

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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, as several actors used speeches and symbolic gestures to voice solidarity with the Palestinian people.

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!”

Megan Stalter of “Hacks” posed on the #Emmys red carpet holding a handbag with a message: “Cease fire!”

Follow live updates: https://t.co/Cpd2Yj8gSt pic.twitter.com/3vJuIifwcC
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 14, 2025

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

#Hacks star Hannah Einbinder arrives to the #Emmys red carpet wearing an Artists4Ceasefire pin pic.twitter.com/0QCBqZeeGu
— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025

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.”

#Emmys nominee Javier Bardem voices his support to end the genocide in Gaza and talks about the growing movement of Film Workers for Palestine. pic.twitter.com/baBVco4g5I
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) September 14, 2025

The Spanish star also highlighted a pledge signed by himself and more than 4,000 filmmakers, committing not to collaborate with Israeli institutions 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,” 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 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, 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. 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 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 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, a film about a five-year-old girl killed by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, earned a 23-minute standing ovation. 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.