“Frozen” and “Book of Mormon” actor Josh Gad spoke out on Sunday about the pushback he received after expressing sympathy for those killed in Hamas attacks on Israel Saturday.
According to Gad, some people did more than just unfollow him. He also received threats and was “shamed.”
“There’s something I have to say because it’s really making [me] curious as to where we are as a society,” Gad began in a series of posts on Facebook/Instagram’s Twitter-esque Threads platform. “Yesterday, I and the world watched as a terrorist organization massacred 600 innocent humans and took children and families hostage. I posted a message of heartbreak and shock. I, who have always been critical of the Israeli government and its pattern of occupation and their attacks on innocent Gazans was personally attacked, shamed, unfollowed and threatened.”
The actor, who is Jewish, continued. “Instead of compassion and humanity, people are treating this as if it’s a football match with two teams when the points scored are dead human bodies,” Gad wrote. “Waving flags around as if they are team jerseys. Have we lost our f–king minds? Somewhere in a basement right now, tied up and terrified are little children who have never done anything to hurt a Palestinian. Somewhere on the streets of Gaza are innocent people who are being shelled, because terrorists decided it was best to destroy any opportunity for peace.
“And the response is to shame people like me for expressing grief and heartache, the same grief I share anytime an innocent Palestinian is displaced or killed? Is this where we are? I guess it is,” he said. “One of the many vile messages I will share with you that I received yesterday is: ‘My only regret is that they didn’t kill more Israelis.’ Not soldiers… civilians. People. This isn’t a war. It’s a massacre. It’s a bloodbath. And instead of communal despair, so many are treating this as if it’s politics or a rugby match.”
Gad concluded: “There are no winners here. We are all losers. Most importantly, every Israeli and Palestinian is now on the losing end. I am truly at a loss. I guess I’m the naive one.”
The actor’s father lived in Israel, while his mother was born to a family of Holocaust survivors in Germany.
In his initial post responding to the attacks on Saturday, Gad wrote, “I have no words. I am praying for my many family members in Israel. What a cowardly act. What we are witnessing in real time right now is unprecedented since the Yom Kippur war. My heart breaks for the families of those who have lost loved ones, and for the hostages who have been taken. What a horrific day.”
