Mia Khalifa Called 'Unhinged' After DMs Published

Mia Khalifa's response to Palestinian militant group Hamas attacking Israelis over the weekend has been criticized by radio personality and wrestler Peter Rosenberg, who told Newsweek that her actions were "unhinged."

Hamas launched attacks on Israel on Saturday in a move that took the country's military and security services by surprise. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently declared: "We are at war."

At least 700 people have reportedly been killed in Israel and more than 400 in Gaza, according to the Associated Press. Israel has since been carrying out attacks against Hamas, launching "Operation Swords of Iron."

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization that the U.S. considers a terrorist group alongside Hamas, on Sunday launched a barrage of mortar shells into Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) then fired artillery into Lebanon, but no casualties were reported on either side, according to Reuters.

After news of the conflict broke, former adult film star Khalifa, who has long been a vocal supporter of Palestinians, shared a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which she addressed the footage that was coming out of the region.

"Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal," she wrote on the platform on Saturday.

Lebanese-born Khalifa later shared a screenshot of a direct message sent by Rosenberg, a co-host on WQHT's (Hot 97) Ebro in the Morning and The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio affiliate WEPN-FM. "Awful tweet dude .... Wow," Rosenberg wrote in his direct message to Khalifa over her post.

"I stand with all oppressed people, everywhere, until no one is fighting for freedom," the screenshot showed Khalifa responding. "I'm from Lebanon, I've lived through more air [raids] by the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] than your tiny privileged brain could ever know how to work through.

"[You] know nothing but tall tales of a land that doesn't belong to you, created by a military that has nothing to do with your peaceful god loving religion. Don't you ever disrespect me and my experience with what geopolitical war is again you man child."

Khalifa also published a screenshot of a previous undated direct message that showed Rosenberg telling her that she was "so good at riling up the internet."

While Rosenberg didn't publicly respond to Khalifa posting their message exchange on the platform, he told Newsweek on Monday that he found her approach to the matter to be "unhinged and ridiculous."

"The idea of demanding that people take sides hours after finding out that innocent people had been slaughtered was so counterproductive and hateful," he said, via email. "I don't care that she posted our direct message. I didn't consider her a friend. I was trying to avoid being messy on a day that's not about myself or Mia Khalifa."

"Honestly, her response was so unhinged and ridiculous," he went on. "First of all, she has no idea what my views are about Israel and Palestine. She just made up what she thinks I am because I told her that her tweet sucked and I'm a Jewish man, so I must only see it one way, right? When really I've been very open about my complicated feelings around this subject."

Following days of criticism over her post, Khalifa sought to clarify her comment in a follow-up statement shared on X on Monday.

"I just want to make it clear that this statement in no way shape or form is [inciting] spread of violence," she said. "I specifically said freedom fighters because that's what the Palestinian citizens are... fighting for freedom every day."

Rosenberg noted that Khalifa said "she was on the side of all oppressed people, which was a nice thing to say, but I don't recall her feeling that way about Native people when I was calling for our beloved football team to change their name."

Broadcaster Rosenberg was referring to an X post from August 2017, in which he urged the NFL team he supports, known as the Washington Commanders since 2020, to change its name from the Washington Redskins.

At the time, Rosenberg warned his team of choice that fans would be lost if they didn't change their name, prompting fellow Commanders fan Khalifa to write in response: "Bro shut the f*** up."

Rosenberg told Newsweek that while he and Khalifa weren't friends, they'd had "friendly" exchanges in the past, due to them both having grown up in the Washington, D.C., area and rooting for the same football team.

Discussing Khalifa's initial reaction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rosenberg said that one's political views shouldn't taint their ability to empathize when lives are profoundly affected and lost.

"There's room for any messaging as long as it's done tactfully and gives room for empathy for all people," he said. "One can support Palestinians without supporting Hamas, same as you can support Israeli people without supporting Netanyahu.

"It really isn't that complicated. It's just about being a caring person for all people. I take zero issue with [Khalifa] caring about Palestinian life—I just hate that she showed no care for Israeli life."

In the aftermath of her X posts, Khalifa was publicly fired from her role as an adviser at Red Light Holland, which produces and distributes magic mushrooms. It has also been reported that Playboy has removed her from its Centerfold platform.

After Red Light Holland CEO Todd Shapiro informed her she had been dismissed via an X post, Khalifa responded: "I'd say supporting Palestine has lost me business opportunities, but I'm more angry at myself for not checking whether or not I was entering into business with Zionists. My bad."

In a separate post responding to the screenshot, Khalifa said, in part: "I just wanna make sure there's 4k footage of my people breaking down the walls of the open air prison they've been forced out of their homes and into so we have good options for the history books that write about how how they freed themselves from apartheid."

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Khalifa via email for comment.