Hollywood – SamaGamer

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Jews are not a monolith. And yet, in recent decades, supporters of Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration have falsely characterized any criticism of the Israeli government as anti-Semitism. This is a curious confusion, given that a 2021 Pew Research Center survey found that only 58% of Jewish adults in the United States “feel very/somewhat attached to Israel.” In the same survey, 33% said that “the Israeli government is making sincere efforts for peace.” And in March of this year, a Gallup poll said that “for the first time in its history of polling U.S. attitudes toward Israelis and Palestinians,” “Democrats’ sympathies in the Middle East now lean more toward the Palestinians.” than towards Israelis, 49%” against 38%. And these were published Before the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people in Israel and the taking of approximately 240 hostages, and Israel’s military response, which cost the lives of approximately 13,000 Palestinian civilians – UN Secretary-General António Guterres called it “an unprecedented killing of civilians and unparalleled in any conflict since I have been Secretary-General,” although he should pay more attention to this happening in Sudan – have put the Israeli-Palestinian issue at the top of all social networks, including those in Hollywood, a city where many Jews live (for historical and cultural reasons explained here). And the way Hollywood executives have hit back at any criticism of the Israeli government during the ongoing conflict may start to look like a new Hollywood blacklist.

First came CAA senior agent Maha Dakhil, who was demoted from her position as co-head of the powerful talent agency’s film department after sharing an Instagram post calling Israel’s bombing of Gaza a “genocide.” Dakhil, who represents Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon and Natalie Portman, issued a sincere apology and deleted the post, but that didn’t stop one of her big clients, Aaron Sorkin, from dumping her. A later report in Variety alleges that it took Cruise’s personal intervention for Dakhil to keep his job, and The New York Post said Dakhil has since embarked on a “Jewish listening tour,” meeting with Hollywood rabbi Steve Leder and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.

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On October 12, the CAA’s top executives joined more than 2,000 other Hollywood luminaries in signing an open letter declaring: “As Israel takes the necessary steps to defend its citizens in the days and weeks to come , social media will be invaded by an orchestrated disinformation campaign led by Israel. by Iran. We urge everyone to remember the horrific images coming out of Israel and not amplify or fall for their propaganda. »

Susan Sarandon did not benefit from the same reprieve as Dakhil. The Oscar-winning actress and activist was fired by her talent agency UTA, where she had been a client since 2014, after speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally on November 17 in New York.

“There are a lot of people who are afraid, who are afraid to be Jewish right now, and who have a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subject to violence ” Sarandon said.

Like Dakhil, Sarandon’s words were quickly twisted and used as a weapon against her. Her comments were called “anti-Semitic” in many headlines, even though she linked the fears of Jews and Muslims in post-9/11 America. (Sarandon has not commented for this article.)

Next up was Melissa Barrera, who was ruled out of her next starring role in Cry VII for what the film’s production company, Spyglass Media Group, described as follows: “We have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism or incitement to hatred in any form, including false references to genocide, to ethnic cleansing, distortion of the Holocaust, or anything that blatantly crosses the line into hatred. speech. »

A Variety The report highlighted how Barrera had apparently been guilty of “re-sharing a post accusing Israel of ‘genocide and ethnic cleansing’ and another of Jewish currents magazine on the distortion of the “Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry”. Barrera had already placed at the top of the fifth and sixth articles of the Shout horror franchise.

Let’s take a look at this Jewish currents story that Barrera shared on his Instagram. The article, published on October 13, is written by Raz Segal, one of the world’s leading Israeli historians and Holocaust scholars, and calls the Israeli army’s assault on Gaza a “textbook case”. of genocide.” He also mentions a previous article in which he wrote The nation on “distortion of the Holocaust to boost the Israeli arms industry”. When you actually read this Nation article, he explicitly criticizes the way Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms company, allowed Bulgaria to whitewash its Holocaust history. Elbit co-published a book portraying Bulgaria as a World War II hero in Jewish eyes and awarded Bulgaria a series of arms contracts. In reality, as Segal writes, “during World War II, the Bulgarian state aimed primarily at forcibly expelling Jews from Bulgaria…Bulgarian state authorities enthusiastically and brutally planned and executed the arrest, the looting and mass deportations of around 12,000 Jews from Bulgaria. Western Thrace and Eastern Macedonia occupied by Bulgaria at the death camps in March 1943.”

I will continue to speak out on behalf of those who need it most and advocate for peace and security, human rights and freedom. Silence is not an option for me.

In other words, Segal’s article is far from the “Holocaust distortion” that Spyglass claimed. In fact, he is a prominent Holocaust historian who uses his authority and expertise to criticize the Israeli military and its weapons manufacturers – for their actions in Gaza and for allowing Bulgaria to whitewash its role in the Holocaust. And now, reports indicate that Barrera’s co-star Jenna Ortega, who has also spoken out about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza on social media, has left the group. Cry VII — although Spyglass says the decision was made some time ago and had nothing to do with Barrera’s departure or Ortega’s positions. (Barrera and Ortega did not respond to requests for comment; in an Instagram post, Barrera wrote, in part: “I will continue to speak on behalf of those who need it most and I will continue to advocate for peace and security, for human rights and freedom.” (…) Silence is not an option for me.”). Meanwhile, the director of Cry VII, Christopher Landon, tweeted: “Everything sucks. Stop screaming. It wasn’t my decision to make,” alongside a broken heart emoji. He then deleted the post.

In addition to what happened to Dakhil, Sarandon and Barrera, the said Variety The report cited how CAA “cut ties with an employee and two clients over inflammatory anti-Israel social media posts,” and that Hollywood energy producer Marc Platt, Ben’s father and the man behind The The Earth And The little Mermaidhad “sent a text message to WME executives explaining why Boots Riley was still a client after the sorry to disturb you The writer-director urged his supporters on by the IDF. Meanwhile, Platt’s fellow producer on The The EarthGary Gilbert, was busy sliding into people’s DMs threatening them with violence if they protested against the screening. The article also claimed that “WhatsApp text chains have popped up all over the city” filled with Hollywood actors “sharing instances of perceived anti-Semitism” and that one such channel targeted filmmaker Ava DuVernay simply for taking a stand in favor of Dakhil, his agent.

And as of this writing, all of the Hollywood people fired or demoted over comments critical of the Gaza crisis – Dakhil, Barrera and the three CAA firings – have been women, and all but Sarandon are women. of color.

During his 2006 Oscar acceptance speech, George Clooney defended Hollywood’s history of progressivism. “We get a little out of touch in Hollywood from time to time, I think. That’s probably a good thing. We were the ones talking about AIDS when it was whispered about, and we were talking about civil rights when it wasn’t really popular…this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when black people were still sitting at the bottom of the streets. theaters. I’m proud to be part of this Academy, proud to be part of this community, and proud to be disconnected.

But Hollywood also castigated the stars for speaking out against the plight of the Palestinian people. Actress Vanessa Redgrave sold two of her homes to help fund The Palestinian, a 1977 documentary that sought to “document the lives and struggle of the Palestinian people” through “interviews with survivors of the siege of Tel al-Zaatar during the Lebanese Civil War, and with the leader of the Liberation Organization of Palestine, Yasser Arafat”. Redgrave faced widespread condemnation for producing the film – particularly from the far-right extremist Jewish Defense League, which burned her effigies, offered a public bounty to have her killed, and then bombed a set theater in Beverly Hills to screen the documentary. And during her acceptance speech at the 1978 Academy Awards, where Redgrave won Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of an anti-fascist freedom fighter taking on the ___s in Juliashe denounced the…

There are lives that are not designed for stardom. People who At one point they got into the sidecar of fame but they quickly saw that it was not for them. and that everything would go much better for them without being recognized on the street. Among child actors there are plenty of examples, a good handful of careers cut short in the search for a better life or simply to get out of the always bloody Hollywood machine. This is the case of Benji Gregory, the boy from ‘Alf’, whom you have probably never seen again. And there is a reason for this: His life has not exactly been a bed of roses.

Alf finally got it

Benji Gregory was born on April 26, 1978 (to understand us: he is already 45 years old) in Los Angeles, California. His grandmother was a representative, a large part of her family was dedicated to acting and she was born with good genes: The road to the family business was practically paved. He did a good handful of commercials (for example, for McNuggets) and soon had his first opportunity in ‘Punky Brewster’.

In fact, the two episodes in which he appeared, ‘Fenster Hall’, were really an attempt at a pilot for a series which would take place in an orphanage and would have occasional appearances by Punky (Soleil Moon-Frye). The series did not continue and Gregory continued playing occasional roles in ‘Amazing Tales’ or ‘The Twilight Zone’ before moving on the casting of a series that would become a true cult in the United States: ‘Alf’.

‘Alf’ lasted four seasons and just over 100 episodes, and along the way had two animated spin-offs, a Marvel comic that ran more than 50 issues, video games, a talk show and even a terrible movie that closed the saga. However, behind the cameras the atmosphere was not friendly at all: Alf’s doll was constantly breaking, The actors were tired of a piece of plush getting the best gags and Max Wright (Willie in the series) was on the verge of quitting on more than one occasion. The perfect film set for an eight-year-old boy.

Less bad it’s over

Brian Tanner, the boy of the family, conquered everyone. His half-mischievous, half-innocent smile was captivating, and his friendship with the alien Melmac was hilarious. But the cast didn’t even get along well, and no one has good memories of that stage. In fact, after the last shot of the last episode, Wright grabbed his things and left without even saying goodbye. That was the level. The end of filming party was an entelechy.

That It was described as “a large dysfunctional family” in which Benji Gregory had fallen. And he got his share of it, of course: in addition to putting up with fights (Wright once physically attacked Alf’s doll), he was forced to look stupid in interviews. saying that Alf was a real alien and no one moved him. It is not surprising that, despite the fact that he was pursuing a parallel career, at the age of twelve he was already fed up with fame.

Gregory had a small role in the movie ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and in series like ‘Murphy Brown’ or providing voices in animated series like ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Pound Puppies’. In the end, it burned so much in such a short time that with his vocal role in the cartoon film ‘The Colored Forest’ he decided that Hollywood was good enough and put an end to his career. At 15, he had already had enough fame to last twenty lifetimes. “When ‘Alf’ was canceled it was a relief. I didn’t want to do more series, but I don’t regret anything,” she commented some time later.

alf army

In 2003, ten years after giving up audiovisual work and four years after getting married and enrolling in the San Francisco Academy of Art, Benji Gregory joined the military as an airbrusher, a branch dedicated to analyzing meteorological and oceanographic data. By then I already had insomniaso the night shifts I had to do flew by.

But when they transferred him to the kitchen, ended up clinically depressed and with aggravated insomnia What he did to him began to fail in his duty. Ultimately, in 2005, he was honorably discharged from the Army for medical reasons, which included bipolar disorder. And since then, Little else has been known about the former child actorbeyond the fact that he had to deal with drugs of all kinds from which he ended up detoxifying several years later.

We know thanks to his unglamorous Instagram, where he barely has 1000 followers, that sign autographs for free (although he asks that they not send him photos or he will throw them directly in the trash), he would not mind reprising his role as Brian Tanner in a reboot of ‘Alf’ and, although his mental health has improved, He still spends days and days without being able to fall asleep. Will you ever return to acting? At the moment, she claims that she is doing some work, but there is no more information out there. Who knows, maybe there is a Melmac series waiting for you…