Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton, Andy Cohen Among Artists Urging Biden and Harris to Bring Israeli Hostages Home

Chelsea Handler, Connie Britton, Andy Cohen, Mayim Bialik, Patricia Heaton, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ali Landry, Rebecca Minkoff, Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Rapaport, Melissa Rivers, Gail Simmons, Amy Smart, Constance Zimmer and Ariel Martin are among 62 performers and artists — from across television, film, fashion, reality TV and social media — urging President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to bring home the 101 remaining Israeli hostages still being held by Hamas.

“We are artists who want sustainable peace in the Middle East and recognize that the first essential step towards that peace is Hamas returning the 101 remaining hostages, including five Americans, who were stolen from their lives on October 7th,” reads the letter, first reported by CNN on Wednesday. “We cannot afford to stand by silently while Hamas brutally executes more innocent hostages.”

The statement ends with the group urging the administration to continue to protect and support Israel, “the only democracy in the Middle East” and “pressure the terrorists to release the hostages now.”

The letter comes as the one-year mark steadily approaches the Oct. 7 massacre, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 Israeli citizens and foreigners and kidnapping more than 250, subsequently prompting Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza that has left a death toll of more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian officials. It also comes weeks after six Israeli hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were killed by Hamas. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered the hostages’ bodies in a Hamas-run tunnel under the city of Rafah and said they were murdered before troops could reach them.

The letter, which is signed by both Jewish and non-Jewish artists, was organized by the Jewish advocacy groups Stop Antisemitism, End Jew Hatred, 2024 New Voices and Stand With Us.

“We are approaching one year since 251 hostages were brutally stolen from their lives and 1,200 were murdered. It is so important to keep the spotlight on this,” 2024 New Voices founder Samantha Ettus told CNN in a statement. “Our celebrities have come together to draw attention to the 101 hostages remaining in Gaza, including five Americans. After the brutal execution of six hostages, the urgency of getting the world to talk about this is now. We need to put as much pressure as possible on Hamas to return the hostages.”

This is the latest letter to come out of Hollywood amid the war. At the 2024 Emmys this past weekend, several stars brought Israel–Hamas ceasefire advocacy to the televised awards show with an Artists4Ceasefire pin. Last week, 400 SAG-AFTRA members signed a letter urging the guild to protect pro-Palestinian members from career retribution. 

As debate surrounding the Israel-Hamas War rages on, Israeli advocate and influencer Hen Mazzig told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that published Wednesday, “I think that as many Jews as possible in the entertainment industry and people with influence should speak up.”

See the full 2024 New Voices letter and its signees here.