More than 450 Jewish stars and different Hollywood professionals are denouncing Zone of Interest writer-director Jonathan Glazer’s speech from the 2024 Oscars, in an open letter revealed by Variety on Monday.

In his controversial remarks on stage accepting the award for Best International Feature, Glazer related his Holocaust movie with the disaster in Gaza, saying, “Our movie reveals the place dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s formed all of our previous and current. Right now, we stand right here as males who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to battle for thus many harmless folks. Whether the victims of October — whether or not the victims of October the seventh in Israel or the continuing assault on Gaza, all of the victims of this dehumanization, how will we resist?”

The open letter, titled “Statement From Jewish Hollywood Professionals,” started circulating on March 13, simply days after the Oscars. It responds partially: “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.”

It continues, “Every civilian death in Gaza is tragic. Israel is not targeting civilians. It is targeting Hamas. The moment Hamas releases the hostages and surrenders is the moment this heartbreaking war ends. This has been true since the Hamas attacks of October 7th. The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history.”

The letter additionally states that Glazer’s speech “offers credence to the fashionable blood libel that fuels a rising anti-Jewish hatred around the globe, within the United States, and in Hollywood. The present local weather of rising antisemitism solely underscores the necessity for the Jewish State of Israel, a spot which is able to all the time take us in, as no state did through the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s movie.”

Actors Debra Messing, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Julianna Margulies and Brett Gelman, director Eli Roth, author Amy Sherman-Palladino, and producer Amy Pascal are a few of the Hollywood stars who signed, as did many different creatives, executives, and Hollywood professionals. The letter apart, public response to Glazer’s remarks has been divisive — as well as to the criticism, it has acquired some assist from these calling for a cease-fire.

Glazer had no remark when contacted by EW. Reps for Messing, Leigh, Margulies, Roth, Sherman-Palladino, and Pascal didn’t instantly reply to EW’s requests for remark.

The Zone of Interest filmmaker’s acceptance speech has additionally acquired reward from different stars and creatives, together with Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Barrera, and administrators Boots Riley, Jesse Peretz, and Asif Kapadia, a lot of whom beforehand signed an open letter to President Joe Biden calling for speedy de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.

Nominated for 5 Academy Awards and successful two, The Zone of Interest follows the house lifetime of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller. Glazer was joined by producers James Wilson and Len Blavatnik on the Oscars stage to just accept the glory, although the latter later revealed Glazer didn’t seek the advice of him concerning the remarks beforehand. “He didn’t clear the speech,” a spokesperson for Blavatnik told The Hollywood Reporter. “But he’s extremely happy with the movie and the accolades it has acquired and he doesn’t need to distract from the necessary themes of the film.”

Another of Zone of Interest‘s govt producers, Danny Cohen, beforehand mentioned he “fundamentally” disagreed with the director’s remarks. “It’s really important to recognize it’s upset a lot of people and a lot of people feel upset and angry about it. And I understand that anger frankly,” Cohen mentioned on the an episode of the Unholy podcast.

Watch Glazer’s acceptance speech on the Oscars above.

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