Javier Bardem on his Palestine support: “I have the right to denounce what I think is wrong”
Javier Bardem has defended his support of Palestine, stating, “I have the right to denounce what I think is wrong.”
The actor was speaking in a new interview with Variety, where he was asked about his outspoken stance on Palestine, based on his “No to war, and free Palestine,” statement at the Oscars, among other shows of solidarity.
Upon being asked about his activism, Bardem said his decision to speak out was natural. “It’s funny, because the question would be, how come I wouldn’t?”, he explained.
Aside from his Oscars statement, Bardem also showed huge support for the region at the Emmys last year, where he proclaimed while on the red carpet that he “cannot work with someone who justifies or supports the genocide”.
On top of this, he was also one of the lead names, alongside Tilda Swinton, to sign an open letter directed towards Berlinale, criticising their decision not to stand with Palestine.
At the time, the festival’s director Tricia Tuttle responded to the 81 signatories of the letter by saying the event “recognises the depth of anger and frustration about the suffering of people in Gaza, and the urgency that people feel to speak out and make their voices heard”.
It came after the jury head, Wim Wenders, controversially said during the opening conference that films should “stay out of politics”, subsequently causing a massive backlash that largely overshadowed the rest of the festival.
For Bardem’s part, speaking about how this notion has filtered into his everyday life as an actor, he added: “I’ve always felt that I have microphones and recorders recording my voice, and I have the right to denounce what I think is wrong.”
Bardem also condemned the actions of Hamas in the attacks of October 7th, 2023, saying it was “a horrible crime” and “there’s not enough papers and TVs to say it.”
The Dune star also acknowledged that other actors have faced career repercussions for sharing his pro-Palestine stance, such as Susan Sarandon, who said she was dropped from her agency over comments about Israel’s war in Gaza.
“That tells you how wrong this whole system is,” Bardem said, referring to Sarandon. “She was one of the first ones to go there. And then she got that professional punishment.”
The actor admitted that he had potentially lost work from his outspokenness, but added, “It’s fine. I live in Spain. American studios are not the only place.”
Despite saying he did not “have the facts” on whether he has been “blacklisted” by certain sections of Hollywood, Bardem was keen to strike an optimistic note when he said: “What I do have the facts about are the new people that are calling you because they want you in their project. That makes me feel that the narrative that they’ve been using for so long is changing.”
He pointed to the fact that he received an “ovation” for his comments at the Oscars in March, where he was presenting the award for ‘Best International Feature’ alongside Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
Using this as evidence of a Hollywood landscape that is changing and may not be so stark as many people believe, Bardem has nonetheless been an exception to actors facing extreme backlash for their views on the matter, with ‘Scream’ star Melissa Barrera being fired from the franchise in 2023 over a similar outspokenness.
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