The human rights issue Hollywood celebrities ignore

Hollywood celebrities couldn’t wait to condemn Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the stage at the Grammys last weekend.

But the self-declared “human rights activists” and “social justice warriors” didn’t utter a word of support or concern for those suffering at the hand of the mullahs in Tehran.

Nearly one month has gone by since Iran International’s Editorial Board reported that 36,500 Iranian citizens had been killed by Iranian security forces for protesting against the regime. This week, the London-based Persian news outlet reported that figure is most likely underestimated by at least 6,000.

Reports coming from inside Iran, including eyewitness testimony from medical professionals, describe unimaginable horrors — including bodies piling up, many still connected to medical devices, revealing the inability of hospital staff to keep up with the wounded and dead.

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One would think that celebrities who are vocal about world events might have had something to say about that. 

But at last month’s Golden Globes, and again at the Grammy awards, they were silent on Iran.

They had nothing to say about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — but plenty of complaints about President Donald Trump. 

To be fair, Hollywood has changed its tune since the last two awards seasons, where the targets of choice were Israel and Zionism — attacks that bordered on antisemitism.

Certainly, we can scrutinize our government’s procedures for enforcing immigration laws. (The same can be said about the conduct of “protesters” in major U.S. cities.)

And, of course, it’s every American’s right to criticize the president.

But the hypocrisy on Iran goes beyond selective outrage.

What has taken place in the entertainment industry over the past three years regarding human rights reveals a level of hate that is festering among entertainers whose celebrity status and social media followings provide them with bully pulpits.

On Oct. 7, 2023, more than 1,200 Jews were massacred in Israel. Another 251 Israelis, including toddlers and infants, were kidnapped by the terrorist organization Hamas.

The women in captivity endured unimaginable horrors. Their daily routine included being raped multiple times. The men were relentlessly tortured and the children were murdered. 

While many Jewish and non-Jewish entertainers publicly condemned Hamas and took to social media to voice their anger and show support for the people of Israel, some of Hollywood’s most vocal political activists were noticeably silent.

Actor Mark Ruffalo, who has spent the last two years condemning the Jewish state at every opportunity, was nowhere to be found the days after Oct. 7. Not until after Israel went into Gaza to attempt to rescue the hostages did the Marvel star find his voice — to slam Israel. 

Shortly after the Hamas attack, Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon attended an anti-Israel rally in New York where she told the crowd that Jews suffering abuse were “getting a taste of how it feels to be Muslim in America.”

She then joined the crowd in chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a blatant call to remove the Jewish state from existence.

Artists such as Cynthia Nixon, Javier Bardem, Emma Stone, Angelina Jolie and John Cusack have also been prominent players in this disturbing trend of targeting the Jewish state and ignoring human rights abuses committed by Iran, which is determined to destroy Israel.

In today’s social media environment, where a younger generation is forming its views online, Hollywood is setting the stage for a future where hatred toward Jews is a cultural norm — left and right. 

We saw this happen in the last century, and we have seen it dozens of times throughout human history.

Hollywood’s silence on Iran is therefore a warning about antisemitism — a growing human rights challenge in our midst.

Paul Miller is a media and political strategist based in Chicago, online at @pauliespoint.