Selma Blair Says Hollywood Abandoned Her After Anti-Islam Comment
Actress Selma Blair revealed at an Anti-Defamation League event that her anti-Islam Instagram comment in February 2024 cost her agency, publicist, lawyer, book agent, brand deals, and friendships, and that she is now making a documentary about antisemitism titled 'Hineni.'
Actress Selma Blair said her career and personal life were upended after an anti-Islam Instagram comment she posted in February 2024 amid the Israel-Hamas war, telling an audience in New York that her agency, publicist, lawyer, book agent, book publicist, and social media manager all dropped her within days.
Speaking Thursday at the Anti-Defamation League's State of the Arts reception at The Jewish Museum, Blair described the swift fallout from the now-deleted comment, which she posted in response to a post by immigration reform advocate Abraham Hamra. In the comment, Blair attacked then-Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., and current Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over their votes against legislation that would bar people involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel from entering the United States.
«Deport all these terrorist supporting goons,» Blair wrote in part, according to the Hollywood Reporter. «Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroyed minds. They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they meet their fate.»
Blair apologized shortly after the comment drew widespread backlash, but she said the damage was already done. «The brands I worked with were gone within a day,» she said. «A few partnerships I'd spent years building were shelved. My agency was gone. My lawyer was gone. My publicist was gone. My book agent was gone. My book publicist was gone. My social media manager was gone.» She added, «No one returned my calls.»
The actress, who has publicly discussed her multiple sclerosis diagnosis, said she refused to let the episode define her and has since rebuilt her career with a small team. «I have a team now I'd walk through fire with. It's small, and it is my team,» she said. «I want you to know that before I tell you the part that isn't better. It left a mark.»
Blair said the ordeal affected not only her but also her son, who watched her endure chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant years earlier. «The fear got into me, and fear is contagious in a house,» she said. «The boy in that Christmas photograph watched his mother get scared of the world. A boy who had already watched his mother go through chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, not knowing if she was coming back to him. He's a teenager now. He's supposed to be embarrassed by me, not frightened for me. Careers come back. Years of his childhood do not.»
She also referenced recent entertainment-industry controversies without naming those involved, including rapper Macklemore's removal from Ed Sheeran's U.S. tour after venues objected to his remaining on the lineup following his anti-Israel remarks, and actor Javier Bardem's petition calling for singer Pink to be removed as a UNICEF ambassador. «A couple of weeks ago, of course, a movie star used his platform to push a petition against an artist who has spent more than a decade raising money for children,» Blair said. «Her crime was objecting, out loud, when another performer railed against Israel from a stage. She didn't ask for anyone to lose anything. Not a job, not a stage, nothing. She said what she thought.»
Blair continued, «And for saying what she thought, a movie star spent his week trying to get her canceled. This is what it looks like when we lose our humanity. A woman who raises money for children stops being a person and becomes a target, and the people cheering can't see her anymore. They only see a side.»
Blair has joined the cast of the upcoming film «Schmoolie the Deathwatcher,» and on Thursday she announced she is making a documentary about antisemitism titled «Hineni,» which she translated as «Here I am.» She told the audience, «Antisemitism has to stop. Not be managed. Not be explained. Not be weighed against something else. Stop. Two years ago the phone stopped. Tonight I'm the one talking, in a room full of my own people, saying the thing out loud. I'm a Jew. I'm still here. Hineni.»
Fox News Digital reached out to Blair for comment.
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