WATCH: Hollywood Star Dumped By Agent For Antisemitic Rant
She danced around in her underwear singing raunchy rock ‘n’ roll numbers in the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show and cast a spell on viewers in The Witches of Eastwick, but now silver screen veteran Susan Sarandon has found herself at the midst of a race scandal.
Sarandon, 77, has never been one to shy away from a fierce political battle. In May 2023, the Oscar-winning actress was arrested at a minimum wage protest in New York for ‘’sitting and obstructing walking traffic’’ and refusing to move.
Her social media page is awash with anti-Israel rants. After Hamas’ vile, murderous attack at an Israeli music festival in October, Sarandon continually referred to them as a ‘’resistance group’’ rather than a terror organisation.
Now the Thelma and Louise star has been forced to apologise after she was filmed making controversial comments during a speech at a pro-Palestinian rally.
Speaking to a crowd of protestors gathered at Union Square, New York on November 17, Sarandon said that Jews who fear for their safety in the US are ‘’getting a taste of what it’s like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence’’.
‘’I stand here in my cruelly given white privilege to say you don’t have to be Palestinian to stand with the Palestinian people,’’ crooned the left-wing actress.
The remarks saw her Hollywood agency, UTA, remove Sarandon from its books after a nine-year partnership with the actress. Page Six reported that her comments were ‘’extremely hurtful’’ to staff members at the agency.
There have been a number of anti-Jewish attacks in America following the Israel-Palestine war. In October, FBI director Christopher Wray warned that antisemitism in the country had reached ‘’historic levels’’, adding that 60% of all religious hate-crime is directed at Jewish people.
Since the backlash, Sarandon posted an apology on social media:
‘’Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire.’’
Her statement went on to say that the ‘’phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true.
‘’It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.’’
But many Jewish social media users were less than enthralled by Sarandon’s statement of apology. Israeli author, Hen Mazzig accused the actress of ignorance about Jewish people’s plight in the Middle East:
‘’It’s so telling how Susan Sarandon doesn’t know that the majority of Israeli Jews are descendants of refugees from the Middle East.
‘’She never heard about us or our stories, and how our families ‘’got a taste’’ of oppression for centuries in Arab countries, under Islamic rule’’.
Aviva Klompas, the former director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the UN wrote:
‘’When Susan Sarandon said that Jews ‘are getting a taste of what it feels like to be Muslim in this country’ she was saying that American Jews have it coming – that we don’t deserve to live free from harassment and assault’’.
