Tom Cruise backs agent over Palestine “genocide” posts

Tom Cruise has personally stepped in to support his agent, after she was relieved of her duties following pro-Palestinian social media posts.

Maha Dakhil, who represents Cruise, was let go from her role as co-chief of the motion pictures department of CAA (Creative Artists Agency), an influential Los Angeles talent agency.

She had made a number of posts on Instagram, including one that read: “What’s more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening.”

According to Variety, Cruise took “the rare step of going in person” to her office to show his support for her, and he made it known to CAA that he was backing her. It is reported that a group of other CAA assistants threatened to walk out over the agency’s treatment of Dakhil.

Dakhil was allowed to stay on at the company as an agent, but she was stepped down from her other senior role.

The news comes as Hollywood continues to wrangle with how to deal with artists and executives who choose to be personally outspoken about the ongoing crisis in Israel-Gaza.

Earlier today (November 22), Melissa Barrera was dropped from Scream VII after writing an Instagram post in support of Palestine.

In a post on her Instagram Stories, Mexican-born Barrera, who played Sam Carpenter, wrote: “I too come from a colonized country. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”

In another post, she added: “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water. People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.”

Barrera later claimed there was “censorship” in Western media which “only shows the other side” of the conflict from Israel’s perspective.

Today (November 22), Pulp, Lucy Dacus, Sleater-Kinney and more were among the thousands of musicians who have signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Mark Hamill and Jamie Lee Curtis were among 700 Hollywood figures who signed an open letter voicing their support for Israel, while Selena Gomez’s makeup company, Rare Beauty, announced that it will be donating funds to the relief efforts in Gaza. Over 2,000 names from the arts world, including Tilda Swinton, Massive Attack‘s Robert Del Naja and Miriam Margoyles, signed an open letter calling for ceasefire.

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