Florence Pugh Explains Why She Wasn’t 'Scared' to Support Palestine
Florence Pugh is opening up about her decision to publicly support Palestine and why she was never “scared” to speak about the issue, even after estimating that she lost hundreds of thousands of social media followers.
Florence Pugh discusses supporting Palestine, losing social media followers and why she was never “scared” to speak out.
Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Netflix
In a cover story for Vanity Fair, the Oscar-nominated actress reflected on her public comments about Palestine. Last September, Pugh attended the Together for Palestine event, where she addressed the suffering and spoke about the importance of empathy.
During her appearance at the event, Pugh said, “Silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality, it is complicity, and empathy should not be this hard and it should have never been this hard.”
Reflecting on the response to her decision to speak out, the East of Eden star told Vanity Fair, “I don’t know why it took so long for people to start talking and for people to actually feel sympathy.”
“But no, I was never scared of it,” she added when discussing her decision to voice her support.
Pugh also explained that the lack of public discussion from many others made her even more determined to speak about the issue. “Weirdly, because so many people actively weren’t, that made me even more confused — and kind of probably even more in the right to talk about it,” she said.
According to the outlet, Pugh’s team never “advised her to keep quiet on the subject.” She was also thankful to those who helped her attend the Together for Palestine event, as it conflicted with the production schedule for Avengers: Doomsday.
Pugh continued to express concern about the ongoing suffering, saying, “It’s still happening, though.” She added, “Babies are still dying. Mothers are still in pain.”
“It’s really horrible to be watching such pain when so much of our lives just seem to be moving forward,” Pugh said.
The actress also discussed the difficulty of navigating social media while witnessing such suffering. “I think that’s what I’ve found so difficult about social media as well: How can I say I’m having a really good time when literally one scroll up, I’m looking at a baby that’s motherless and fatherless?”
Meanwhile, Pugh is preparing for the release of Netflix’s East of Eden adaptation, which releases on Oct. 1. She is also set to appear in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday on Dec. 18, the same day Dune: Part Three, another project she’ll appear in, arrives in theaters.
