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ABE WON’T BE SILENT - The entertainment community is reliving a moment eerily reminiscent of one of its darkest chapters — the McCarthy era. Back then, careers were destroyed as boycotts, blacklists, and silenced voices swept through Hollywood. The Hollywood Ten became symbols of free expression, dragged before committees and punished for their political views. Truth was on trial, and integrity was the casualty.
Today, the pattern is repeating — with a twist. People will ridicule me for making this comparison, but have you met me? Do you think I care if I offend someone for speaking up and expressing my views — popular or otherwise?
The inquisitors are no longer government committees; they are our own peers. Actors, writers, and directors aren’t resisting blacklists — they’re creating them. More than 4,000 artists have signed a boycott of Israeli creative services, striking directly at the most liberal, diverse film community in the Middle East — not to mention the only democracy, to boot. A space where Israelis and Palestinians collaborate is now being erased by those claiming to champion justice and free speech.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Not long after signing onto that boycott, nearly 400 actors signed a separate letter defending free speech at ABC/Disney for disciplining Jimmy Kimmel after his inaccurate, inappropriate Charlie Kirk joke. Yup, stupidity is covered by the First Amendment. Sadly, so is hate speech — though you know I strongly believe the First Amendment needs an amendment to set guardrails between truth and garden-variety, social-media-climbers’ clickbait whoring garbage.
Pontificating about free speech while blacklisting Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers alike is not moral courage — it’s foolish. Free speech for me, but not for thee? What’s the end game here? Do they honestly believe a feckless boycott will end the October 7 war — especially since none of them are insisting that the hostages be released first?
In reality, they’re aligning with terrorists as a badge of honor. Can y’all remove your labels so we can see right through you? Aha, there it is — antisemitism. And for the handful of Jews like Hannah Einbinder, who posture as humanitarians while joining this mob, it’s nothing short of pathetic. It feels like cultural vigilante justice — mob rule echoing the Islamist rallies now filling the streets of London, Paris, and Detroit.
Joseph McCarthy Hearings
This is why the analogy to McCarthyism is not hyperbole. Then, as now, careers are threatened not by the quality of one’s art but by the acceptability of one’s politics. Then, as now, fear and opportunism fuel decisions. Today, cultural figures like Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Riz Ahmed, Cynthia Nixon, and Ava DuVernay play a role not unlike Senator Joseph McCarthy himself: enforcing ideological conformity, punishing dissent, and cloaking it all in the language of principle.
Because here is the truth: boycotts and blacklists are never about principle. They’re about power. And once unleashed, they consume not only their targets but the credibility of the people who wield them.
Just this week, Ezra Klein interviewed Corey Robin about the threat of a coming “Blue Scare” under Trump, likening it to the Red Scares of the past century. But here’s the irony: the scare is already here. The cultural purge we’re witnessing isn’t being driven by Trumpists but by the progressive left. It’s not subpoenas from Washington defining speech, but petitions from colleagues. And if history teaches anything, these cycles of blacklisting always end in regret. Did Ezra mention this phenomenon on his podcast? Nope. Trump makes for an easier villain.
The entertainment industry faces a choice. It can repeat its darkest mistakes — punishing Israeli and Palestinian artists, silencing their voices, and pretending censorship in the name of justice is anything other than censorship. Or it can choose integrity: defending free expression even when uncomfortable, even when it means standing up for Israeli creatives.
The Red Scare destroyed lives and disfigured an industry. The new “Jew-List” threatens to do the same. The question is whether Hollywood will recognize the parallel in time — or whether it will once again find itself on the wrong side of history.
Check out my audiobook, Won’t Be Silent.
(ABE GURKO is the executive producer of a documentary “LOUDER: The Soundtrack of Change,” about the extraordinary Women of Protest Music streaming on MAX. He's an Opinionator who hosts a podcast, "Won't Be Silent," engaging in conversations from the edge of democracy. Abe is a contributor to CityWatchLA.com. [email protected].)
