Several artists used their appearances to call for “Free Palestine,” wearing keffiyehs and handbags, and shouting “CEASE FIRE!” during Sunday night's 77th annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, California.
“Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder won her first Emmy for best supporting actress in a comedy series and closed off her acceptance speech by saying: “Go Birds, F--- ICE and Free Palestine.”
She later went on to explain her statement while her name was being chiselled on the trophy backstage.
"It is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel. Our religion and our culture … is really separate to this sort of ethnonationalist state," she said.
Javier Bardem, wearing a keffiyeh and voicing his support for Film Workers for Palestine, announced on the red carpet entrance: “Here I am today denouncing the genocide in Gaza… Free Palestine!”
Pledge to boycott Israeli institutions
In the week leading up to the Emmys, 3,900 industry names signed an open pledge declaring that they will not work with Israeli institutions and film companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
The pledge statement, published on Monday by the organisation Film Workers for Palestine, said that examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them.”
The pledge states that examples of complicity include “whitewashing or justifying genocide and apartheid, and/or partnering with the government committing them,” according to Variety.
“What we are witnessing is a genocide. And as I said in your show, in 4k alive on a daily basis, this has to stop,” Bardem said during an interview.
He continued by stating that he won’t and cannot work with those who “justify or support the genocide.”
“I can't. That's as simple as that. And we shouldn't be able to do that in this industry and in any other industry. Today in Madrid, in Spain, the cycle, the bicycle tour, it was stopped by thousands and thousands and thousands of people on the streets marching saying we can't allow the team of Israel to be in this tour,” Bardem said.
Megan Stalter of “Hacks” also posed on the red carpet holding a handbag that read “CEASE FIRE!” on a white background and bold characters.
