Javier Bardem calls for ‘free Palestine’ on Emmys red carpet

Javier Bardem didn’t mince words about his position on Palestine while walking the 2025 Emmys red carpet. 

Though he was nominated for his role in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Bardem had bigger topics to discuss with reporters at the  77th annual Emmy Awards.  While chatting with Variety, the actor took time to call for a “free Palestine.” Asked how he would respond if he discovered that a company he was set to work with was in business with Israel, Bardem replied, “I won’t work.”

He continued, “I cannot work with somebody that justifies or supports the genocide. That’s as simple as that. We shouldn’t be able to do that, in this industry or any other industry.”

The actor went on to denounce the “genocide in Gaza,” telling the outlet, “I am talking about the IAGS, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, who study genocide thoroughly and has declared it is a genocide. That’s why we ask for a commercial and diplomatic blockade and also sanctions on Israel to stop the genocide. Free Palestine!”

Bardem also made a statement with his outfit, wearing a keffiyeh to walk the red carpet. The traditional Middle Eastern scarf, usually black-and-white patterned, has become a widely recognized symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance.

Bardem was not the only star making a statement on the red carpet. Hacks and Too Much actress Megan Stalter, who broke formal dress code with her blue jeans and white T-shirt, was sporting a bag that read “cease fire!” Stalter also wore an Artists4Ceasefire pin, an accessory that has become a red carpet staple and asks that the US government call for an “immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost.” 

Other celebs spotted wearing the pin include fellow Hacks star Hannah Einbinder, Presumed Innocent‘s Ruth Negga, The White Lotus stars Aimee Lou Wall and Natasha Rothwell, and Chris Perfetti of Abbott Elementary.

Einbinder also voiced her stance when she took the stage to accept her first Emmy win for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, declaring, “Go birds, f— ICE, and free Palestine.”

Backstage, Einbinder told reporters that the ongoing war in Gaza is “an issue that’s very close to my heart,” adding that “I feel like it’s my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the state of Israel because our religion and our culture is such an important and longstanding institution that is really separate to this really ethnonationalist state.”

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Earlier this month, Film Workers for Palestine announced a new pledge to boycott working with Israeli film institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.” More than 1,300 filmmakers, actors, creatives and other industry professionals signed the pledge. Bardem and Einbinder were among the signees, along with Melissa Barrera, Ayo Edebiri, Mark Ruffalo, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Olivia Colman, Riz Ahmed, Tilda Swinton, Lily Gladstone, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Emma Stone.

Addressing the pledge at the Emmys, Einbinder said, “Boycotting is an effective tool to create pressure on the powers that be to meet the moment. The Film Workers for Palestine boycott does not boycott individuals; it only boycotts institutions that are directly complicit in the genocide.”

The 77th Emmy Awards, hosted by Nate Bargatze, aired live from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, Sept. 14. Check out the full list of Emmy winners.