Over 100 actors and entertainment industry insiders, including Debra Messing and Selma Blair, are calling on the organization behind the Emmy Awards to rescind its award nomination of documentarian Bisan Atef Owda, citing the Gazan journalist's anti-Semitic rhetoric and ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a designated terror organization.
The Creative Community for Peace (CCFP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating rising anti-Semitism in the arts, issued a letter signed by more than 150 actors and Hollywood leaders pressing the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to pull Owda's Emmy nomination in light of her "documented ties" to the PFLP. Owda, a Gaza-based journalist behind the documentary It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive, spoke at a 2015 rally celebrating the PFLP's 48th anniversary, as revealed by Eitan Fischberger on X.
"The Emmys decision to honor someone with clear ties to a U.S.-designated terrorist group is inexcusable and should have never happened. It would be legitimizing a terrorist organization," CCFP wrote in the letter, which was signed by Blair, Messing, fellow actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, former Paramount Pictures CEO Sherry Lansing, Saban Capital Group CEO Haim Saban, and Fox Entertainment president Fernando Szew.
"If the Emmys don't change course and rescind this nomination, they will be glorifying someone who is a member of an organization that has carried [out] numerous aircraft hijackings, participated in the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel, carried out waves of bombings on markets and restaurants and murdered innocent women and children," the group's letter says.
Owda—who claims that Israel "occupies every corner of the world"—was selected as an Emmy nominee earlier this month in the 2024 News & Documentary category for her film, which documents the Palestinian activist's experience during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The film is nominated alongside its publisher AJ+, an offshoot of the Qatari-owned media conglomerate Al Jazeera, which disseminates anti-Israel propaganda across the globe.
Owda's nomination, the CCFP wrote in the letter, "is deeply troubling, given the creator's history of promoting dangerous falsehoods, spreading antisemitism, and condoning violence." Owda's ties to the PFLP, the group says, "raises serious ethical concerns that cannot and should not be ignored."
"Honoring someone linked to an organization that has caused so much pain and suffering is not just irresponsible; it is a direct affront to the values we hold dear in the entertainment industry," the letter states.
Owda, who has accused Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing, was recently found to have participated in a 2015 rally celebrating the PFLP's 48th anniversary. In pictures published by Fischberger, Owda can be seen wearing the terror group's militant uniform and addressing a crowd advocating Israel's destruction. Owda worked alongside the group in multiple other instances, indicating that her ties to the terror outfit are longstanding.
The nomination may violate the Emmy Awards' own code of conduct, which says the nominating organization has a "zero tolerance for discrimination, harassment or illegal, dishonest, unethical or otherwise harmful conduct," according to TheWrap. Still, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences defended Owda's nomination and said they will not reconsider her inclusion. The organization says it is comfortable "giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent" and does so "in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story."
"NATAS is aware of reports, cited in your letter and initially surfaced by a communications consultant in the region, that appear to show a then-teenaged Bisan Owda speaking at various PFLP-associated events between six and nine years ago," the organization's president, Adam Sharp, said in response to the CCFP letter. "NATAS has been unable to corroborate these reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of more contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organization."
Owda has also used her vast social media reach to promote misinformation about Israel and accuse the Jewish state of intentionally targeting civilians.
"The published news is propaganda that justifies terrorist Israel to kill civilians in Lebanon!" she wrote in July.
Israel "occupies every corner of the world," she added, repeating an age-old anti-Semitic canard about Jewish power.
"The Emmys are a prestigious entertainment institution, known for recognizing excellence in entertainment, often highlighting the unifying power of the arts," the CCFP wrote. "Choosing to elevate someone with clear ties to the PFLP not only legitimizes a terrorist organization, it undermines the integrity of the awards."
Update 8:15 p.m.: This piece has been updated with additional information, including a response from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.