variety.com
Oct 18, 2023
Zack Sharf
Actor Julianna Margulies Condemns Hollywood’s ‘Shocking’ Silence on Antisemitism,
Regrets Wearing a Cross on ‘The Morning Show’: Why Can’t It Be a Star of David?
Julianna Margulies is speaking out against Hollywood for staying silent on antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war. The Emmy-winning actor attended the Variety Hollywood & Antisemitism Summit, presented by The Margaret & Daniel Loeb Foundation and Shine A Light, and said she is continually asking herself why many major Hollywood stars are not speaking out in support of Jewish people.
Margulies added that she’s “disheartened” by the silence, and she’s “trying to understand and work around why every single person in our industry isn’t standing up. I don’t understand. It is shocking.”
“Maybe they are afraid?” Margulies wondered. “I don’t know what they are afraid of. Losing followers? It’s just insane to me. That’s not how I roll. Listen, the last thing I thought in my life was that I’d be the one actress speaking out for Jews. I hope I inspire other people to come out and talk and use their voice and use their platform to draw attention to this.”
Margulies currently stars on Apple TV+’s “The Morning Show” as news anchor Laura Peterson, and she told a story about coming to regret letting her character wear a cross on the show. During her costume fitting for the series, the show’s costume designer put a cross necklace around her neck.
“I did not think twice,” Margulies said. “I put the cross on. And then the character became popular. I went in the next season and there in my dressing room was the cross. Because I have started this Holocaust education program for schools since that happened, I have thought…what if Laura Peterson was wearing a Star of David? We don’t have to talk about [her religion]. But what if that character was just wearing a Star of David? Why did i not just say, ‘Hold on, why is that a cross?’”
“On TV, characters are not ever wearing the Star of David,” she continued. “I regret that. I am sorry about that. I am going to be a lot more careful in the future…It’s so easy to put on a cross. Why isn’t it just as easy to put on a Star of David?’
Margulies stressed that she has no issue playing characters of other religions, nor is automatically bothered by non-Jewish actors taking on Jewish roles. As she noted, her “Morning Show” character is a lesbian single woman while Margulies is married to a man and has children.
“Does that mean I can never play a single motherless woman?” she said when asked about Jewish characters only being played by Jewish actors. “It’s a slippery slope. I am 100% on board that I cannot play Black or Asian…but when it comes to religion, I’m on the fence about it. I am an actor. I’m supposed to make the character I play believable. That’s a slippery slope…we’re actors, we are supposed to act. We need to be careful how we tread there.”
“The Morning Show” is currently airing is third season through Nov. 8 on Apple TV+. Margulies is an executive producer on “Jack and Sam,” a documentary about two Holocaust survivors.
This conversation was a part of “Variety’s Antisemitism and Hollywood” summit.
variety.com
By Todd Spangler
Oct 10, 2023
Porn Actor Mia Khalifa Dropped by Playboy Over ‘Disgusting
and Reprehensible’ Comments About Hamas Attack on Israel
Playboy has cut Mia Khalifa, a Lebanese-American media personality and former porn star, from its roster of OnlyFans-like creators after she shared comments “celebrating” Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel, according to the company.
“We are writing today to let you know of our decision to terminate Playboy’s relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia’s Playboy channel on our creator platform,” the company wrote in a message to users (via Daily Mail). “Over the past few days, Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women and children. At Playboy, we encourage free expression and constructive political debate, but we have a zero tolerance policy for hate speech. We expect Mia to understand that her words and actions have consequences.”
As of Tuesday, Khalifa’s page is no longer available on Playboy’s website.
Among her posts on X (aka Twitter) following Hamas’ attacks on Israelis, Khalifa wrote,
<><>“If you can look at the situation in Palestine and not be on the side of Palestinians, then you are on the wrong side of apartheid and history will show that in time.”
<><> “I can’t believe the Zionist apartheid regime is being brought down by guerrilla fighters in fake Gucci shirts — the biopics of these moments better reflect that.”
<><>“Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal.”
<><>On Sunday, Oct. 8, Khalifa posted, “I just wanna make sure there’s 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they’ve been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books that write about how how they freed themselves from apartheid.”