A London-based pro-Israel legal nonprofit has sent a letter to the U.K. outposts of Netflix, Disney, the BBC, Amazon and other major film and TV studios, warning that the Film Workers for Palestine boycott, supported by more than 5,000 Hollywood stars, could lead to discrimination lawsuits under British law.
U.K. Lawyers for Israel says the boycott, whose signatories include Ava DuVernay, Adam McKay, Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, could spark a chain reaction through the financing and insuring of productions because it violates the Equality Act. Passed in 2010, the sweeping anti-discrimination law protects individuals and organizations from unfair treatment on the basis of race, religion, sex, disability and nationality.
The boycott, initiated late last month, includes Oscar, BAFTA, Emmy and Palme d’Or winners who signed a pledge saying they will refuse to work with Israeli institutions and companies that are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
“We pledge not to screen films, appear at or otherwise work with Israeli film institutions — including festivals, cinemas, broadcasters and production companies — that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people,” the group shared through Film Workers for Palestine.
The original list contained 1,200 signatories, and quickly ballooned to more than 5,000 including Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Peter Sarsgaard, Gael García Bernal, Riz Ahmed, Cynthia Nixon, Tilda Swinton, Andrew Garfield and Javier Bardem.
“If the U.K. television and film industry colludes with acts contrary to [the Equality Act], organizations are themselves likely to be in breach,” the letter states, according to a Monday report by Variety. “It also creates a dangerous precedent: one that condones the exclusion of individuals and organizations based solely on their nationality, ethnicity or religion.”
Both American and British companies were among the recipients, including Netflix, Disney, Amazon Studios, Apple, Warner Bros. Discovery, the BBC, Film4 and the British Film Institute.
Citing the Equality Act’s protections for institutions, the letter suggests the boycott could leave studios liable to litigation, void insurance policies and illegally bar access to funding, as financial groups are required to be in compliance.
