Tom Cruise stops his agent from being fired over pro-Palestine social media posts
Last month, Maha Dakhil, the co-head of film at Hollywood powerhouse agency CAA, faced internal backlash and resigned from the agency’s board
Tom Cruise showed support for his agent Maha Dakhil after she was made to step away from her leadership roles at talent agency CAA because she reposted Instagram Stories in support of Palestine.
As per a report by Variety, Maha was relieved of her duties as co-chief of the motion pictures department, though she was allowed to remain an agent after her client, Tom Cruise, made it known to CAA that he was backing her.
As per the report, Tom Cruise met with Maha Dakhil at her CAA office on November 15. A source told the portal that Tom 'took the rare step of going in person to show support for his embattled agent'.
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Maha Dakhil, one of talent agency CAA's top agents, ignited a firestorm with her Instagram posts last month, including one that said, "What's more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening." She then faced internal backlash and resigned from the agency's board after she also reposted an image on Instagram that read, in part, "You're currently learning who supports genocide." She had added in the caption, "That's the line for me."
After backlash from within and rival agencies, Maha Dakhil deleted both images and made a public apology. "I made a mistake with a repost in my Instagram Story, which used hurtful language. Like so many of us, I have been reeling with heartbreak. I pride myself on being on the side of humanity and peace," Maha had said in a statement to Variety in October.
Maha is not the only one dividing Hollywood amid the Israel-Hamas war. The Hollywood talent agency UTA dropped Susan Sarandon as a client after she spoke at a pro-Palestine rally recently, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed in a Deadline report.
The Oscar-winning actor attended several rallies in support of Palestine and drew criticism for saying, "There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country."
In remarks captured on video, Susan Sarandon encouraged others to keep speaking up in support of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. "People are questioning, people are standing up, people are educating themselves, people are stepping away from the brainwashing that started when they were kids," she had said at the rally.
