Hollywood blacklisting: Susan Sarandon shares her support for Palestine has cost her film roles
Venice Film Festival Becomes Stage for Hollywood's Ongoing Blacklisting Debate
Poinews.com – The 2026 Venice Film Festival, traditionally a showcase for cinematic art and industry glamour, has once again become a forum where the political undercurrents shaping Hollywood are laid bare. Veteran actress Susan Sarandon took the microphone during a press event and spoke candidly about what she describes as a sustained campaign to keep her out of the casting room — a campaign she attributes directly to her public advocacy for Palestine.
Sarandon: Agencies Still Telling Studios Not to Hire Her
Now 79, Sarandon — an Oscar winner known for landmark roles in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Thelma & Louise, and Dead Man Walking — told the audience that her position on Israel's military operations in Gaza continues to cost her professional opportunities. She was present at the festival to promote her upcoming film The Echo Chamber, directed by Andrea Pallaoro, whom she publicly thanked for ignoring the pressure from industry figures who urged him not to work with her.
"In terms of the power structure, I've still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still."
The remarks land against a backdrop of shifting American public sentiment. A July survey conducted by the Pew Research Center found that US attitudes toward both the Israeli government and the Israeli public have turned markedly more negative since the Gaza war began in late 2023. The same poll indicated that Americans now regard the Palestinian people almost as favourably as they regard the Israeli people — a reversal that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years earlier. Sarandon pointed to this shift as evidence that the broader conversation has fundamentally altered.
"The narrative has completely changed in terms of the historical relevance of Palestine and the ties of Zionists with America in our politics. That has been a major revelation for people, how much money the United States gives to Israel, nobody really understood that."
From UTA to Independent: The Cost of Speaking Out
Sarandon's professional isolation did not begin at the Venice waterfront. In 2023, roughly one month after the Hamas attack on Israel, she attended a series of pro-Palestinian rallies and made public remarks that drew immediate industry attention. Shortly thereafter, her long-time talent representation at United Talent Agency (UTA) ended. Since then, she has worked without a major agency, a situation that, by her own account, has made her a target for informal exclusion from casting decisions.
She is far from alone in this experience. Actors including Joaquin Phoenix, Javier Bardem, and Mark Ruffalo have spoken publicly about the professional consequences of their pro-Palestinian positions, and the term "Hollywood blacklisting" has entered common industry parlance as a shorthand for what critics describe as coordinated pressure to sideline outspoken performers.
Clooney's Golden Lion Speech Defends Ruffalo's Free Speech
The Venice festival also handed George Clooney its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and the actor used the occasion to enter the debate directly. His remarks centred on Mark Ruffalo, who had drawn fire after criticising the proposed $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount. Ruffalo's objections went beyond corporate consolidation; he singled out the Ellison family, noting that Paramount chief executive David Ellison is the son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and argued that the family's wealth was built on infrastructure tied to what he called an "apartheid system of oppression" in Palestine.
Paramount responded by accusing Ruffalo of invoking antisemitic tropes. He rejected the charge, and the dispute quickly escalated into a broader cultural argument about who is permitted to criticise Israel within the entertainment industry.
"I support Mark Ruffalo's ability to speak freely. We're not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That's important, right? In fact, it's part of how a democracy works."
Clooney, accepting his lifetime honour on the festival's main stage, framed his defence in explicitly democratic terms. He acknowledged that audience members would disagree with much of what he stood for and insisted that open argument was the proper mechanism for resolving such disputes.
"There are going to be people tonight in the room that are going to disagree with most everything I say or stand for. Fair enough. That's how it's supposed to be. We're supposed to argue these things out and come to a conclusion based on the information that we take in … I will always support Mark Ruffalo's ability to speak freely. I like him. He's a good man."
The "Enough!" Letter: 170+ Jewish Voices Push Back
The Ruffalo controversy prompted a coordinated response from within the Jewish creative community. More than 170 Jewish artists, academics, and public figures signed an open letter titled "Enough!" that explicitly defended the actor and warned against what its authors characterised as attempts to silence criticism of Israel or of the proposed studio merger. Signatories included Joel Coen, Joaquin Phoenix, Ilana Glazer, Todd Haynes, and Hannah Einbinder, among others.
"We are Jewish artists, writers, creative professionals, faith leaders and thinkers who have, in response to the outrageous smear campaign against our respected colleague Mark Ruffalo, a simple message to share with the world: Enough!"
The letter went on to argue that the assault on the Palestinian people and the erosion of domestic liberties in the United States are deeply interconnected, and that labelling legitimate political criticism as antisemitism serves to protect powerful institutions from accountability.
What the Venice Moment Signals
Taken together, the Sarandon remarks, the Clooney speech, and the open letter illustrate an industry caught between two competing norms: the expectation that stars remain politically neutral to protect commercial viability, and the growing insistence that silence in the face of what many perceive as state violence carries its own professional and moral cost. The Pew data suggests the American public is no longer uniformly aligned with the position that once made pro-Israel advocacy a safe career bet. Whether Hollywood's power structures will adjust to that reality — or continue to enforce informal exclusion — remains the central question that Venice, for now, has only sharpened.
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