This past 15 September, the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles hosted the 77th edition of the 2025 Emmy Awards, a gala that, beyond the awards to the best of television, was marked by the political positioning of several public figures facing the situation in Palestine.
Far from being limited to the red carpet glamour, the event became a platform of denunciation before the current Israeli military offensive on Gaza, which has left thousands of civilian victims and has been cataloged by international experts as a possible crime of genocide.
The Spanish actor appeared with a kufiya, the emblematic Palestinian scarf, as a symbol of support for the people of Gaza. Before the microphones, Bardem was blunt: he spoke of genocide and called for immediate measures against Israel, citing the resolution of the International Association of Genocide Experts, which qualifies the situation in Gaza within the legal parameters of the crime of genocide.
“Freedom for Palestine,” claimed Bardem, who also called for diplomatic and trade sanctions to stop what he considers a systematic extermination. The performer, nominated for the Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez miniseries, recalled his commitment to the Film Workers for Palestine manifesto, signed by more than 4,500 film professionals who refuse to collaborate with Israeli institutions linked to human rights violations.
Actress and comedian Hannah Einbinder, awarded for her role in Hacks, closed her speech with a phrase that, despite being partially censored in the broadcast, was widely replicated on social media: “Go Birds, fuck ICE and Free Palestine”. In later statements, she explained that as a Jewish woman she feels the duty to differentiate her religious identity from the actions of a state which, in her words, promotes a violent and prolonged occupation.
Other artists, such as Megan Stalter, used fashion as a political statement: the actress wore a handbag with the word “Ceasefire” (“Cease-fire”) stamped on it, while other figures carried campaign pins like Artist4Ceasefire, an initiative that calls for an end to violence and demands ethical responsibility from the entertainment industry.
At a time when politics and culture are converging ever more openly, the 2025 Emmy Awards made it clear that there are voices in Hollywood willing to break the script.
