Hacks star Hannah Einbinder made headlines after Sunday’s 2025 Emmys Awards when she ended her acceptance speech by saying, “I just wanna say, finally, go birds, fuck ICE and free Palestine.”
The freshly minted Emmy winner was first referring to her NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles. And her second reference — one of the most overtly political statements of the live telecast — was bleeped out for those watching at home. It was her third comment in the signoff that prompted her to explain further when backstage after her win.
Standing alongside her Hacks co-star and fellow Emmy winner of the night Jean Smart, Einbinder said she wanted to speak out about Palestine and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip “because it’s an issue that’s very dear to my heart.”
She told backstage reporters, including The Hollywood Reporter, “I have friends in Gaza who are working as frontline workers, as doctors, right now in the north of Gaza to provide care for pregnant women and for school children to create schools in refugee camps. It’s an issue that’s very close to my heart for many reasons. I feel like it’s my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel because our religion and our culture is such an important and longstanding … institution that is really separate to this sort of ethnonationalist state.”
She also said she signed the recent Film Workers for Palestine pledge that boycotts working with Israeli film institutions and companies because “like many movements, boycotting is an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment. The Film Workers for Palestine boycott does not boycott individuals, it only boycotts institutions that are directly complicit in the genocide. So it’s important to me and I think it’s an important measure and I was happy to be a part of it.”
The Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledges a work stoppage with Israeli film institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” a statement that was greeted by Israel’s industry leaders saying the effort is misguided and self-defeating.
In a swift guest column for THR, Israeli activist Hen Mazzig condemned Einbinder’s Emmys moment, writing that her words stung and have the potential to cause sadness and fear. “True bravery would have been using that Emmy stage to call for the release of the 48 hostages still held in Gaza and end of the war. True courage would have meant calling for peace, for coexistence, for the humanity of both Israelis and Palestinians, even if it risked boos instead of applause,” wrote Mazzig. “Hannah Einbinder had a rare moment when the world was listening. She could have built a bridge. Instead, she burned one.”
Einbinder wasn’t the only Emmy attendee to weigh in on the ongoing war in Gaza and boycott effort. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story star Javier Bardem, wearing a keffiyeh scarf, told THR on the red carpet “what is going on in Gaza today is a genocide” and responded to Paramount’s condemnation of the pledge (“Silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace,” they said) by saying he “will never work with some company now [who] are not condemning the genocide in Gaza,” adding that “me not getting jobs is absolutely relevant compared to what is going on there.”
Einbinder’s Hacks co-star Megan Stalter also walked the red carpet with a black bag displaying writing that read, “Cease Fire!”
The Israeli Producers Association has also responded to the boycott pledge by saying that the Hollywood signatories are “targeting the wrong people.” Their statement, in part, said, “This call for a boycott is profoundly misguided. By targeting us – the creators who give voice to diverse narratives and foster dialogue – these signatories are undermining their own cause and attempting to silence us. This shortsighted act seeks to eliminate precisely the collaborative efforts working toward ending violence and achieving peace.”
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