A group of Paramount staffers are slamming the media giant for showing “blatant hypocrisy” by condemning a boycott of the Israeli film industry, accusing leadership of “aligning” with “a genocide in Gaza and of the Palestinian people.”
In a Sept. 17 letter, the group, known as the Paramount Employees of Conscience, said that they refuse to have their labor “endorse complicity in the brutalization and erasure of an entire population” and that they do not and will not support leadership’s “attempts to align a publicly traded American company with the intentions, actions, and propaganda arm of a foreign government.”
They accused Paramount of aligning themselves with “systems of apartheid, occupation,” and what groups including the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Holocaust scholars, independent experts commissioned by the United Nations’ Human Rights Council and others have “recognized as a genocide in Gaza and of the Palestinian people.”
“As the parent company of a massive news organization in CBS, it is incredibly telling that Paramount chooses to say nothing as hundreds of journalists are targeted and murdered with impunity in Gaza while simultaneously publicly chastising film workers for choosing whom they would like to work with based on shared values,” the letter continues. “We stand with our colleagues of conscience across the industry who are demanding justice, and we affirm the call for a boycott of institutions that are complicit in war crimes, apartheid, and genocide as a legitimate, ethical, and necessary act of solidarity.”
In a follow-up email sent on Oct. 2, PEC issued a list of demands, calling on management to commit to a “guarantee that there will be no retaliation or punishment made against Paramount employees who speak out against genocide, apartheid, and war crimes.”
It also urged leadership to commit to producing, acquiring, and distributing content that “represents not just the perspective and experience of the Palestinian people, but also Jewish voices that speak out against how the Israeli government misrepresents their culture and religious beliefs.” Additionally, it called on Paramount to match $1 million in donations to Israeli organizations in 2023 by donating to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.
A Paramount spokesperson declined to comment.
TheWrap exclusively reported Paramount’s condemnation of the Israeli film boycott last month.
In the statement, Paramount said that it believes in the power of storytelling to “connect and inspire people, promote mutual understanding and preserve the moments, ideas and events that shape the world we share.” However, it disagreed with the Israeli film boycott, arguing that “silencing individual creative artists based on their nationality does not promote better understanding or advance the cause of peace.”
“The global entertainment industry should be encouraging artists to tell their stories and share their ideas with audiences throughout the world. We need more engagement and communication — not less,” Paramount’s statement concluded.
The PEC argued that the “very thesis” of Paramount’s statement was rooted in “blatant hypocrisy,” calling it a “purposeful misrepresentation of the boycott and its objective” and “dangerous and intentional distortion.”
PEC said that staffers have “meaningfully attempted to engage Paramount leadership with data-driven and objectively strategic business recommendations” for years to acquire and distribute projects that “truly promote mutual understanding of events that shape the world we share,” such as “No Other Land” and “It’s Bisan From Gaza And I’m Still Alive.”
It also claimed that budgets and resources were diverted from existing programming and marketing opportunities and only invested in “one-sided stories” that “did not lead to any material business success,” calling out “We Will Dance Again,” “Children of Oct 7th” and “As1One.”
“How can a company with this supposed creative mission actively ignore, suppress, and silence internal calls for years to champion stories that shed a light on the reality that marginalized and excluded communities, particularly Palestinians, face every day?,” PEC questioned.
Additionally, PEC praised the Film Workers for Palestine, who pushed back against Paramount with its own statement on Sept. 14.
At the time, FWP said it hoped that Paramount wasn’t “intentionally misrepresenting the pledge in an attempt to silence our colleagues in the film industry” and that such a move would “only shield a genocidal regime from criticism at a time when global outrage is exponentially growing and while meaningful steps towards accountability are being taken by many.” It also claimed that Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison – Paramount CEO David Ellison’s father – has a “well-documented, close relationship with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“As Paramount employees who support the Pledge, we believe it is critical to underscore this point: the boycott is not an attack on filmmakers,” PEC said. “We are confident that when history looks back at the Film Workers for Palestine Pledge, it will do so with a similar respect for its foresight and the humanitarian insight with which the FUAA Pledge is regarded.”
In addition to PEC, the pledge to not work with Israeli companies “complicit in genocide” is backed by over 5,000 filmmakers.
Notable A-list actors and creatives who signed the pledge include Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, Olivia Colman, Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Andrew Garfield, and Elliot Page, “Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
The PEC’s letter and demands come as Paramount will premiere “Red Alert,” a scripted limited series about the October 2023 attack on Israel, on Tuesday.
