Julianna Margulies has apologized for offensive comments she made about Black and LGBTQ supporters of Palestine, including that Black people have “been brainwashed to hate Jews.”
“I am horrified by the fact that statements I made on a recent podcast offended the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities, communities I truly love and respect,” she said in a statement. “I want to be 100% clear: Racism, homophobia, sexism, or any prejudice against anyone’s personal beliefs or identity are abhorrent to me, full stop. Throughout my career I have worked tirelessly to combat hate of all kind, end antisemitism, speak out against terrorist groups like Hamas, and forge a united front against discrimination. I did not intend for my words to sow further division, for which I am sincerely apologetic.”
Margulies, who currently stars as Laura Peterson in “The Morning Show,” made the incendiary remarks in a Nov. 21 episode of Andy Ostroy’s podcast “The Back Room.” As the two discussed American reactions to the Israel-Hamas war, Margulies expressed anger at Black and LGBTQ people who have spoken out against Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
“You know, there was a film being shown by this Black lesbian club on the Columbia campus and they put up signs that said, ‘no Jews allowed,’” Margulies said, likely in reference to an incident involving the student group Lion Lez as reported by the New York Post. (According to the Post, the email sent by that group said, “It’s FREE PALESTINE over here. Zionists aren’t invited.”)
“As someone who plays a lesbian journalist on ‘The Morning Show,'” she continued, “I am more offended by it as a lesbian than I am as a Jew. Because I wanna say to them: You fucking idiots. You don’t exist. You’re even lower than the Jews. A, you’re Black, and B, you’re gay. And you’re turning your back against the people who support you? Because Jews, they rally around everybody.”
Ostroy suggested that there were larger reactions about people using “the wrong pronouns on college campuses” than the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel, and Margulies concurred.
“Oh my god, forget it,” she said. “It’s those kids who are spewing this antisemitic hate that have no idea if they stepped foot in an Islamic country — these people who want us to call them they/them, or whatever they want us to call them — which I have respectfully really made a point of doing, like, be whoever you want to be — it’s those people that will be the first people beheaded and their heads played with like a soccer ball. Like a soccer ball on the field. And that’s who they’re supporting? Terrorists who don’t want women to have their rights? LGBTQ people get executed.”
Margulies made these comments while also pointing to her previous support of Black communities: “I’m the first person to march [for] Black Lives Matter. When that happened to George Floyd, I put a black screen on my Instagram. Like, I ran to support my Black brothers and sisters,” she said.
“The fact that the entire Black community isn’t standing with us to me says either they just don’t know, or they’ve been brainwashed to hate Jews,” she added.
Deadline was first to report Margulies’ apology.
