Never Afraid to Speak Up for Palestine: Hollywood’s Florence Pugh

LOS ANGELES — Oscar-nominated actress Florence Pugh says she was never afraid to speak out for Palestine while promoting her new film East of Eden. In an interview with Variety, she said no one had ever advised her to stay silent on the issue.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Pugh said she didn’t understand why it took people so long to speak up and genuinely feel empathy — and that the silence of others only made her feel more justified in speaking out. She acknowledged she may have lost millions of followers over her comments on Gaza, but said “children are still dying, mothers are still in pain.”
The report noted that speaking out for Palestine has cost many Hollywood figures roles and opportunities — veteran actress Susan Sarandon says she is still losing parts over her activism, while Melissa Barrera was dropped from the Scream franchise over her posts on Gaza. Pugh made a surprise appearance last year at the Together for Palestine event, which raised more than $2 million for humanitarian organizations, telling the crowd that “silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality, it is complicity.” She has since joined stars including Mark Ruffalo, Benedict Cumberbatch and others in backing the campaign to free jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.