Cannes Juror Paul Laverty Says ‘Shame on Hollywood’ for Blacklisting Susan Sarandon and More Actors Who Oppose War in Gaza: ‘They’re the Best of Us’

Cannes jury member Paul Laverty ended the festival’s jury press conference by slamming Hollywood for blacklisting actors such as Susan Sarandon who have spoken out against the war in Gaza. The Oscar winner, whose character in “Thelma & Louise” is on the official 2026 Cannes poster, went viral in February after revealing she lost her Hollywood agent after publicly calling for a ceasefire.

“Can I just leave one tiny thing?” Laverty said at the end of the press conference. “The Cannes Film Festival has a wonderful poster. Yes, and isn’t it fascinating to see some of them like Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo blacklisted because of their views in opposing the murder of women and children in Gaza? Shame on Hollywood people who do that. My respect and total solidarity to them. They’re the best of us, I look up to them.”

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Laverty then quipped: “I just hope we don’t get bombed now, because we’ve got this poster in Cannes.”

Sarandon was speaking in Spain earlier this year ahead of receiving the International Goya award in recognition of her career when she said: “I was fired by my agency, specifically for marching and speaking out about Gaza, for asking for a ceasefire.”

“It became impossible for me to even be on television,” she added. “I don’t know lately if it’s changed. I couldn’t do any major film or anything connected with Hollywood. I found agents ultimately in England and in Italy, and I work there. I just did a film in Italy, and I did a play at the Old Vic for a number of months. I know this Italian director that just hired me — he was told not to hire me, so that’s still recently. He didn’t listen, but they had that conversation. Right now, I kind of specialize in tiny films with directors who have never directed, in independent films.”

Laverty quoted Shakespeare earlier in the conference, referencing the famous King Lear quote, “Tis’ the time’s plague when madmen lead the blind.” He said being selected for the Cannes jury was an antidote to the sociopolitical climate.

“You see so much violence, genocide in Gaza and all these terrible things. To come to a festival — which is a celebration of diversity, imagination, tenderness — when there’s such vulgar, vicious, systematic violence? Where there’ll be contradiction and nuance and beauty and inspiration? It knocked me out.”