Mia Khalifa Oscars Comment Goes Viral

Mia Khalifa weighed in on the anti-war messaging at Sunday night's 96th Academy Awards, specifically regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

The former adult film star has been a vocal supporter of Palestinians and critic of Israel amid the war in Gaza. The latest round of bloodshed erupted on October 7, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages back to Gaza. Israel's subsequent airstrikes and invasion have killed about 30,000 Palestinians in the territory, many of them women and children, according to Reuters, citing Gaza's Health ministry.

With the conflict continuing to attract divisive debate, a number of attendees at the Oscars donned pins in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. The pin was a red circle with a hand in it and a black love heart on the palm. Billie Eilish, her brother, Finneas O'Connell, Riz Ahmed, Ramy Youssef, Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay and Swann Arlaud were among those who added to the pins to their ensembles on the night.

There didn't appear to be any attendees wearing signs of support for Israel. About 134 of the people kidnapped are still being held by Hamas, according to Reuters.

As the Oscars aired, one viewer took to X, formerly Twitter, to bemoan the fact that no mention of the war in Gaza was made when War Is Over! emerged victorious in the Best Animated Short Film category. The film, which is set in an alternate World War I, was inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono's 1971 classic hit "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," a protest song against the Vietnam War.

When Lennon and Ono's son, Sean Ono Lennon took to the stage to accept the award, he said: "My mother turned 91 this February, and today is Mother's Day in the U.K. So could everyone please say, 'Happy Mother's Day, Yoko!"

Dave Mullins, who directed the short, highlighted the song that inspired the film as he made his acceptance speech. "John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote a song that inspired us," he said. "It is an anti-war message that we tried to honor with this film."

"They just gave an animated film an Oscar for its anti war message and none of the creators mentioned the war on Gaza. Perfect metaphor for Hollywood liberalism," commented an X user in response to the win.

As of press time, the post had been viewed more than 1 million times.

Khalifa, who has weighed in on a number of films and shows in recent weeks, commented: "But [The] Zone of Interest did, and I think that screams the whole point." The post garnered more than 125,000 views in under four hours.

The Zone of Interest won for Best International Feature. The movie shows the daily lives of a Nazi family whose patriarch is a commander at the neighboring Auschwitz concentration camp, where around 1.1 million people were killed, the majority of whom were Jewish.

"Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It's shaped all of our past and present," said the movie's director and writer, Jonathan Glazer.

"Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people," he said, adding: "Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza—all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?"

The Palestinian civilian death toll and images of children dead in the rubble of bombed buildings have resulted in mounting international calls for a ceasefire and increased pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden to take a tougher line on Israel.

Despite the increasing condemnation over civilian deaths and demands for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said the army will continue its offensive to destroy Hamas, bring home the remaining hostages and stop Gaza from posing a threat to his country.

Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine was also highlighted at Sunday night's Oscars, when 20 Days in Mariupol won the award for Best Documentary Feature Film. Directed by a Ukrainian journalist, the film documents Russia's invasion in early 2022.

Accepting his award, Mstyslav Chernov told the audience that the Academy Award win was the first ever for a Ukrainian film. "I am honored, but I will probably be the first director on this stage to say that I wish I had never made this film," he said.

"I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never invading our cities. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russian not killing 10,000 of my fellow Ukrainians."