Susan Sarandon Dropped by Talent Agency for Controversial Remarks at Pro-Palestinian Rally

Susan Sarandon has been dropped by her talent agency UTA due to controversial comments, PEOPLE has confirmed. 

At a New York City rally in support of Palestine on Friday, the actress, 77, addressed the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

“There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time,” she said in her speech, reports Variety. Jews in America “are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence," she continued.

The Thelma & Louise star also recently retweeted a post on X about Roger Waters. The Pink Floyd musician has come under police investigation on suspicion of "incitement of the people” after wearing Nazi-like imagery in Germany. Sarandon's reshared post read that Waters took the stage in Uruguay to perform “despite attempts by the Israeli lobby to cancel the event.”

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In the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians, and the Israeli government’s subsequent air strikes in Gaza, the U.S. has seen a spike in reports of both anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish bias incidents, reports ABC News. 

The Anti Defamation League (ADL) announced on Oct. 24 that antisemitic “incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault” increased by 388 percent compared to the same period last year, as CNN reported. 

According to a Nov. 9 statement from The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), “a wide variety of Americans, including public school and college students, doctors and other workers, protestors, and mosques” have submitted reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias in the month following the escalation of violence.

“We have definitely seen an uptick in threats across the country. It is focused on Jewish people and people from the Muslim community,” FBI assistant director of partner engagement Robert J. Contee III told the Washington Post in late October.