Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
Actress Julianna Margulies apologized to Black and LGBTQ+ people this week after accusing the groups of hating Jews in a podcast last month – the latest of several prominent comments related to the Israel-Gaza war that drew backlash bumped.
“I am appalled that the statements I made on a recent podcast insulted the Black and LGBTQIA+ community, communities that I truly love and respect,” said the actress, who has starred in “The Good Wife” and “The Morning Show” is known in its apology statement. “I want to be 100% clear: racism, homophobia, sexism, or any prejudice against others’ personal beliefs or identities are abhorrent to me, period.”
“I did not intend my words to sow further division, for which I sincerely apologize,” she added.
She voiced her criticism during one Episode from November 20th of the podcast “The Back Room with Andy Ostroy”. Margulies, who is Jewish, said she has supported both marginalized communities in the past, putting up a black square during protests over the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and taking part in a campaign supporting same-sex marriage with her husband. But she said she hasn’t seen the same fervor and support from groups supporting the Jewish people during the Israel-Gaza war.
Sharp. Funny. Pensive. Sign up for the Style Memo newsletter.
“The fact that the entire black community isn’t behind us shows to me that they either just don’t know or they’ve been brainwashed to hate Jews,” she said on the podcast.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Margulies criticized LGBTQ youth, particularly people who use the pronouns “they/them,” for their pro-Palestinian sentiments: “It’s these kids who are spewing this anti-Semitic hate,” she said. They “have no idea that when they set foot in an Islamic country, these people will be the first to be beheaded and their heads will be played with… like a football on the field.”
She also misrepresented a flyer for a student group event for queer women and non-binary people at Columbia University, falsely claiming that it advertised “no Jews allowed.” In fact, the group’s black lesbian movie night was advertised on flyers that read, “This is FREE PALESTINE.” Zionists are not invited,” said the university’s student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator.
“As someone who plays a lesbian journalist on ‘The Morning Show,’ I’m more offended by that as a lesbian than I am as a Jew,” Margulies said on the podcast. “I want to tell them, ‘You [expletive] Idiots. You don’t exist. You are even lower than the Jews. A. you are black and B. you are gay. And you turn your back on the people who support you?’”
Margulies is one of several celebrities who have done this Statements made in connection with the Israel-Gaza war had social consequences. Susan Sarandon, the Oscar-winning actress who starred in “Thelma & Louise” and “Dead Man Walking,” apologized Friday and was reportedly dropped as a client by United Talent Agency after she appeared at a pro-Palestinian event last month rally said that Jewish people “got a glimpse of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country that is so often subject to violence.”
“This wording was a terrible mistake because it implies that Jews were not victims of persecution until recently, when the opposite is true,” Sarandon wrote in a statement on Instagram. “As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence that continues to this day.”
“I deeply regret that I trivialized this reality and hurt people with this comment,” she continued. “It was my intention to show solidarity in the fight against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry that I failed to do so.”
Last month, actress Melissa Barrera was fired from “Scream VII” for comments she made on social media about the Israel-Gaza war, in which she supported the Palestinians and said Israel’s actions in Gaza were “genocide” and “ethnic Purge.” She has since sharpened her statements, saying: “Silence is not an option for me.”
More style stories on arts and entertainment
Check out 3 more stories