Donny Deutsch Slams Hollywood Silence Amid Israel-Hamas War on MSNBC: ‘This Is About the Slaughtering of Jews’

Elizabeth Wagmeister
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

During an impassioned segment on MSNBC, Donny Deutsch slammed Hollywood and corporate America for their silence amid Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel.

“I don’t understand the silence from Hollywood. I don’t understand the silence from corporate America. I don’t understand the silence from the academics. And I don’t understand the silence from so many politicians,” Deutsch said, speaking with anchor Nicolle Wallace.

More from Variety

Deutsch, who is Jewish, was previously a host on MSNBC and CNBC. The television personality and political analyst now hosts the podcast “On Brand With Donny Deutsch.”

“There is not context here. This is about the slaughtering of Jews,” Deutsch said. “It’s a level of heinousness we can’t even understand… beheading a baby, taking a nine-month old hostage, raping and dragging a dead woman through the town, killing elderly people. It goes back to my question again: Why the silence in this country from our institutions? Hollywood?”

Deutsch’s comments come as Israel has been under attack since Hamas’ surprise ambush on October 7, firing thousands of rockets from Gaza. Not since the Holocaust has there been a massacre of Jews this large. At least 1,200 people have died in Israel, including at least 22 U.S. citizens, and more than 100 civilians have been kidnapped and held hostage. On-the-ground reports have included gruesome details such as children being “butchered” in front of the their parents, and women being raped next to the slain bodies of their friends.

President Joe Biden has condemned Hamas as a terrorist organization, and has expressed unwavering support for Israel as it now retaliates in Gaza where at least 1,100 people have died.

On MSNBC, Deutsch held Hollywood celebrities and corporate leaders to task for not speaking out in support of Jewish people.

“They’re afraid they’re going to offend part of their audience, but I don’t understand Hollywood’s quietness,” Deutsch said.

During the segment, Deutsch brought up a viral post that has been circulating on social media, calling out the top ten most-followed Instagram accounts in the world for not speaking up about the war in Israel: Christiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Dwayne Johnson, Ariana Grande, Kim Kardashian, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. Collectively, those celebrities have roughly four billion followers on the platform. “Not one of you have shown your support for the Jewish people,” the post said. (Since the post began to garner attention, Johnson, Kardashian and Bieber have posted about Israel.)

On MSNBC, Deutsch said, “The Top 10 most well-known Instagrammers who have four billion followers — half the country.” He continued, “Anti-semitism is the biggest to young people. But also, corporate America. Where are the CEOs? A few have spoken out. How is this not just outrage across the board?”

Deutsch compared Hamas’ mission to the Nazis when speaking with Wallace.

“Let’s be clear about it: Their reason to be Hamas has nothing to do with a two-state solution, has nothing to do with Netanyahu, has nothing to do with escalation or retaliation, it has nothing to do with human rights,” Deutsch said. “It has to do with the massacre and the killing of Jews on this planet. That’s their mission.”

“You can have context over here where you talk about both sides, where you talk about the complex issues, where you talk about the oppression on both sides, where you can empathize with the Palestinian plight,” he continued. “But there is no context here. There was no context to 9/11. We have to be able to talk about it in absolute terms.”

When contacted by Variety, Deutsch said he decided to speak out “because anti-semitism is about silence. Where are the loudest voices?”

Watch Donny Deutsch’s segment here:

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.