Silent Stars: How Celebrities Are Hurt for Ignoring Israeli Carnage in Gaza

TEHRAN – Calls are growing for social media users to boycott celebrities who have remained silent in the face of war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people.

Earlier this month, an online movement known as “Blockout 2024” gained strength to block certain celebrities for their inaction over Israel’s appalling atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
This was sparked by the 2024 Met Gala, which took place in New York on May 6.

Many famous faces from the world of fashion, cinema, music and sport participate in this event which takes place every year.

But this year’s event drew backlash because it took place around the same time that Israel launched a ground offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents were crowded into Rafah before the offensive. Israel’s ground attack on Rafah forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee the city. United Nations agencies and aid groups have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe as Israel expands its military operations there.

Israel has massacred around 35,400 Palestinians, including more than 15,000 children in Gaza since the war there began on October 7.

Israel is accused of genocide before the International Court of Justice. Prominent rights groups have also declared that Israel’s military actions in Gaza constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

UN experts, for their part, have accused the regime of deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza as famine spreads across the territory.

Fears are now growing that a large-scale incursion into Rafah could cause bloodshed.

The tragic situation of Gazans has led to increasing pressure on some celebrities, particularly those who attended the Met Gala.

Celebrities are losing followers

As part of the “Blockout 2024” campaign, online activists are no longer following or blocking famous names.

They blocked content from some celebrities’ accounts on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter.

Additionally, other social media users posted about the celebrities they blocked, while others shared posts from users lambasting Met Gala attendees and contrasting the situation in Gaza.

The move aims to reduce the income celebrities make from advertisements on social media platforms.

Hashtags such as #blockout, #blockout2024 or #celebrityblockout are used to draw attention to celebrities seen as unsupportive or insensitive to the death and destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Some users have also called the Blockout, the “digitine” or the digital guillotine, based on the reference to the French Revolution.

Haley Kalil is a former American model and current TikTok influencer who has nearly 10 million followers on the platform. On May 7, a video of her lip-syncing the words “let them eat cake” surfaced, outside the Met Gala.

“Let them eat cake” is the most famous quote attributed to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France during the French Revolution.

When told that her starving peasant subjects had no bread to eat, she suggested they eat cake. Because cake costs more than bread, the anecdote has been cited as an example of his unawareness of the conditions and daily lives of ordinary people.

The images have sparked violent backlash as Gaza residents grapple with famine, more than seven months after the start of Israel’s genocidal war.

According to Blockout2024.org, celebrities such as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, Billie Eilish and Selena Gomez have lost a large number of followers.

The 2024 Met Gala took place while surrounded by protesters who highlighted the contrast between the event’s celebrity opulence and the situation in Gaza.

Approve crimes

Many believe that when celebrities remain silent about the Israeli genocide, they are tacitly condoning or supporting this wrongdoing. This is especially true if their silence is seen as a form of acquiescence, allowing Israeli criminals to continue their atrocities without fear of consequences. Individuals, especially celebrities, can raise awareness and play a crucial role in holding criminals accountable by speaking out against their atrocities.