Protestors calling for Gaza cease-fire disrupt Film Independent Spirit Awards
In a reminder that there are more important things than Hollywood award shows, activists tried to upstage the festivities
Aux News Independent Spirit Awards
Photo: Kevin Winter
Try as he might, Jim Gaffigan could not shut down the heckles of pro-Palestinian activists just outside the massive tent in Santa Monica containing the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Chants of “Free Palestine,” “Long live Palestine,” and “Cease fire now” could be heard outside the ceremony this afternoon as the show went on. While the protestor’s megaphone chants could not be clearly heard on Film Independent’s YouTube stream, presenters and winners tried their best to ignore the calls for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of which are women and children.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Chris Gardner captured video from outside the tent. There did not appear to be many protestors, but that megaphone remained undeterred.
The chants began during Jim Gaffigan’s presentation of Jury Duty’s “Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series.” Though the comedian has about 35 years of experience on stage, he, like the rest of the winners and presenters, did their best to shut out the protests. James Marsden noted the risks Judy Duty took, and Ali Wong thanked her caterers as muffled yells of “free Palestine” could be heard. The following segment was even worse.
“We are at the beach, and people are expressing their freedom of speech, but that’s not going to stop our beach party,” host Aidy Bryant said as she began handing out sunscreen, flip flops, and hot dogs, as shirtless hunks tossed beach boys into the crowd. “We’re really doing it. We’re having forced fun.”
It was an unfortunate pairing of sound and image as everyone brought the “essence of independent film to the small screen,” as Adam Brody put it. As of this writing, none of the presenters showed support for Israel, Palestine, or even peace in the region. It’s a third rail that even the pioneering artists harnessing the independent spirit of the arts wanted to touch.
Well, almost no one. Silicon Valley’s Jimmy O. Yang said that the protestors don’t know that they’re dealing with indie filmmakers who are very used to having someone yell in their ears while they’re trying to work.
Taking a more sincere approach to the disruption was Fremont director Babak Ja, who, while accepting the John Cassavetes award for the film, acknowledged being “inspired” by the protestors.
“I don’t know what they’re saying, but whatever they’re saying is
probably a lot more important than what I’m about to say,” said Fremont director Babak Jalali to applause. “I’m so
inspired by what they are saying outside that I can’t think about what
to say.”
Update: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect Jalai’s words.
35 Comments
The header image implies they interrupted a TED Talk about Hot Pockets.
That might actually be more important than Hollywood awards!
It’s no “Buy Mennen”.
Don’t hide that in a bushel basket.
…calienté pocket…
Penultimate paragraph: “Fremont director Babak Ja”Final paragraph: “Fremont director Babak Jalali”Postscript about update: “reflect Jalai’s words”
Update: This post has been further updated to introduce another misspelling of Babak Jalali’s last name
I’m more worried aboutas shirtless hunks tossed beach boys into the crowd.Fucking hell, Brian Wilson’s 81.
Seriously, hasn’t he suffered enough? Now, if it was Mike Love, on the other hand . . . toss away!
THOSE AREN’T GOOD VIBRATIONS! IT’S PARKINSON’S!Also, screenshot for posterity
Adele Dazeem, you say?
Those responsible for the previous sackings, have been sacked
Barack Jobama
“Jalai”/“Jalali” is unprofessional and embarrassing, but it’s somewhat understandable given that the two spellings look roughly similar at a glance. But how does it come to pass that the majority of a name just gets lopped off and then that makes it to publication–along with the other misspelling, no less? And what the fuck are these “beach boys” that these shirtless hunks are throwing at the crowd? I literally can’t even figure out what that is through Google or Urban Dictionary.
Considering the amount of times I’ve written my name for people only to then have it misspelled by them, I resemble this remark.
This article is moronic. Just in the last few weeks, Schimkowitz has written articles about a Ric Flair biopic, the dog from Anatomy of a Fall, John Cleese fighting with Eric Idle, and two articles on the best Super Bowl commercials. So it’s evident he isn’t spending every waking moment talking about the situation in Gaza. Why then is it cowardly for presenters and recipients to do what he’s doing? Why are they supposed to be at the beck and call of one dipshit with a megaphone?
You’ve really got a bee in your bonnet about people trying to stop genocide huh
Except they’re not. You really think the Middle Eastern governments care about what people in the US have to say about their war? You think they care what American based blogs have to say about it? Spoiler alert: they don’t. These people are not trying to stop a genocide by staging a protest in a country that has no bearing on the conflict at all. This is an empty gesture, no different than posting “thoughts and prayers”.
Why the fuck are they doing it, then? And this takes significantly more effort than “thoughts and prayers” online
They’re doing it for the same reason Bobby Kennedy got shot by Sirhan Sirhan.
More effort, yes. The results? Literally the same.
You know Israel’s an American colony, right? $3.8 billion a year, baby!
Does the US have troops actively fighting for Israel?
Does Michael Rapaport count? I’m kidding; that genocidal wife-beater is too much of a pussy to fight, and is too busy enjoying his Likud-sponsored junket instead of just being a D-list actor with an STD, as his former employers labelled him.
I’m going to guess you’re not gonna count dual citizens fighting with IOF. But I’m also going to guess you’re ignorant of how the US uses Israel to further its foreign policy goals in the Middle East, especially if you’re American. The whole utility of Israel is that it doesn’t contain any (official) Americans – that’s the whole point. When America needs someone assassinated while it’s trying wring some lower oil prices out of the Arabs or play the peacemaker but needs a nuclear reactor bombed, that’s when you call up the Sayaret Matkal or Mossad or IAF. If you’re getting your arse kicked in Vietnam by the Commies and need to strike a blow for Democracy, bam: Six-Day War. Israel’s a cat’s paw for America, a convenient toehold in the Middle East. Rhodesia on the Med. (Fun fact: out of all the foreign countries who bought and contributed to the F-35, only Israel was granted full access to its systems.)In return, America gets to go “Who, me?” It’s like how Russia uses Belarus, though in an actually competent way. Of course, part of this plausible deniability is a bit of autonomy, which sometimes goes pear-shaped when, say, Likud regresses back to its fascist roots and get’s a little Final Solution-y. And, of course, there’s also what’s going in the Red Sea right now, too, if you’re looking for something a bit more overt. Also, there’s that whole happy-clapper, Christian hillbilly problem, Jesus sequel that further muddies things.
The US fully funds and support Israel; an apartheid and genocidal country.America is equally to blame for every action that Israel takes.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine has been going for over 100 years. Protesting at some Hollywood event that literally has NOTHING to do with the conflict will do nothing about how the US funds Israel. This is the epitome of an empty gesture. Something people are doing so they can say “I protested this conflict” and feel good about themselves without ACTUALLY doing anything of importance.
Yes, because when have protests ever worked to try and change government policy…….Guess in your eyes marching across a bridge was an empty gesture as well. You are saying this is an empty gesture, yet articles have been written, exposure has happened. If their protests caused someone at the event to speak up, at the event or during one of the interviews they give, then that gets more exposure. I am sorry if they are not meeting your limited scope of how to properly protest.
Guess in your eyes marching across a bridge was an empty gesture as well.What are you referring to? I feel like I should be able to figure it out but am coming up blank.
It’s a weird attempt to stop a genocide though. Why aren’t they protesting in front of like an embassy or something? The notion that anyone is going to be like “dammit they ruined the independent spirit awards, something has to change!” is really funny.
Biden and the media are aiding Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
Hamas turned down a ceasefire. I don’t get these protests at all. Israel is allowed to defend itself and demand the return of hostages. Egypt attempted to broker a permanent ceasefire waaaayyyy back in December and Hamas turned it down.The DARVOing in the Israel-Hamas situation is unreal to me. Israel got pogrommed. They’ve asked for really reasonable things like “return the hostages.” Hamas has had opportunities to end this, and they didn’t TAKE them. The civilians getting bombed should be mad at Hamas, who won’t surrender or return hostages. Oh, and also? Egypt doesn’t want Gazan refugees because the last time they took some? They had a little terrorist faction, which caused all kinds of trouble including political assassinations if I recall correctly.There are REALLY GOOD REASONS people in that actual region are reacting to this situation very differently from spoiled grad students who just want to feel alive.
If you cannot tell the difference between a country defending itself from terrorist attack and an invading force destroying homes, schools and hospitals, targeting civilians, particularly children, denying displaced people access to food aid, I’m not sure there is anything that can be said to you.
Israeli forces are committing a genocide and it is an international disgrace that they are not being stopped. Why is Putin so widely condemned, but not Netanyahu? These are two fascists cut from the same cloth.
It’s all part of the massive Drugs for Guns economy that exists because of the Sanctions in Syria, Bashir Assad’s past as a Doctor and his brother’s accident that made him the heir to the party, the election of Duterte in the Philippines, the Americans leaving Afghanistan and the fact that this whole conflict started over a 3 day underground electronic music festival.This is drugs and guns, nothing less, nothing more. Don’t trust the rhetoric of people on amphetamines. Bibi is an awful leader, but he is an awful leader in a democracy, more like George W Bush than Putin. He uses war to maintain unpopular social issues, he’s been doing this since the 90s.
Isreal turned down a ceasefire. Hamas has been offering one since oct 7th Israel has financially support Hamas for decades. Israel controls every one and everything that goes into and out of Gaza for as long as the strip has existed. Israel has never and could not care less about the hostages, their government ministers and staff have been very open about their intent to wipe out Gaza, calling the people there “animals” ‘the darkness” “everyone on in gaza is a terrorist” Israel has been attacking and beating the families of the hostages, beating and attacking Israeli supporters of Palestine, beating and attacking those who protest against the countries actions. The civilians getting bombed should be mad at Israel. 75 years under Israeli occupation, over 20K currently imprisoned (held hostage) with no reasoning, prior to Oct 7, in just 2023 alone near 300 Palestinians were executed without cause by Israeli forces, for as simpl of an act as walking down a street. You do not carpet bomb a civilian population, to root out an enemy for to save hostages, Isreal has killed their own hostages and not blinked an eye. This is no different than at the hight of the organised crime movement in NYC if the governors office started to carpet bomb manhattan in an effort to root out organised crime. Israel is not allowed to defend itself, that is straight up international law. Israel is an occupying force, and people who are under an occupying force have very right under law to resist that occupation. Your supporting of Israel is no different that supporting Nazi Germany and getting mad at the Jewish resistance movements who were attacking Nazi’sIsrael is a Apartheid and a Fascist state