During a podcast appearance, actress Julianna Margulies made disparaging comments about Black people who support Palestine, Muslims, and queer people who use they/them pronouns.
In an episode of The Back Room, a podcast hosted by filmmaker Andy Ostroy, released on Nov. 20, Margulies says that queer people who use they/them pronouns and “spew anti-semitic hate” would be beheaded in Palestine, and Muslims would play soccer using the decapitated heads as balls.
“If they stepped foot in an Islamic country, these people who want us to call them they/them or whatever,” Margulies says. “It’s those people that will be the first people beheaded and their heads played with like a soccer ball.”
listen to julianna margulies go on an absolutely unhinged rant against black people for supporting palestine, claiming muslims would play soccer ball with the decapitated heads of black queer people if they could, and saying she knows better as someone who played a lesbian on tv. https://t.co/IhoKvLdU85 pic.twitter.com/OJZAzxDrA2
— سماح (@samah_fadil) November 30, 2023
She also says that a “Black lesbian club” at Columbia University was hosting a film screening and “they put signs up that said no Jews allowed.” This is not true: As reported by the New York Post, the club, called LionLez, advertised the event with the phrase “Zionists aren’t invited.”
“As someone who plays a lesbian journalist on The Morning Show, I’m more offended by it as a lesbian than I am as a Jew,” Margulies says on The Back Room. “Because I want to say to them, ‘You fucking idiots. You don’t exist. You’re even lower than the Jews. A, you’re Black. And b, you’re gay.’”
Margulies is not a lesbian.
She also says that “the fact that the entire Black community” isn’t supporting Jewish people and Israel during the Israel-Hamas war shows that Black people are “brainwashed to hate Jews.”
“When have we ever oppressed? Ever?” Margulies says of Jewish people.
Margulies is receiving online backlash about her comments, which many say are offensive and discriminatory.
Samah Fadil, a Black Palestinian writer, tweeted that Margulies’ comments were “absolutely unhinged” and “more unhinged than anything Amy Schumer or Sarah Silverman have said.” Both comedians have posted controversial, inflammatory statements and images on Instagram that are anti-Palestinian.
Journalist Wajahat Ali also chimed in on X, saying, “We always knew what Juliana Marguiles [sic] was based on what she did to Archie [Panjabi].”
Panjabi is a British actor who was Margulies’ co-star on The Good Wife, which ran for seven seasons on CBS. Margulies denied rumors that she and Panjabi didn’t get along, but in a tweet, Panjabi pushed back at the actor’s comments and implied that Margulies wouldn’t film with her.
After their final scene together—which the actors filmed separately—Panjabi left the show.
“She will fail up without consequence,” Ali wrote of Margulies.
Others predicted that Margulies won’t face repercussions for her comments on Ostroy’s podcast. After a clip of Margulies’ comments was posted on Reddit last week, commenters said they were horrified with what she’d said.
“This is absolutely horrific,” one person wrote. “I’ll be shocked if she receives any substantial backlash.”
“And she’s going to keep her job…” another said.
Many online have taken issue with Margulies’ use of the phrase “the Blacks” when referring to the Black community at large and her statements about being offended “as a lesbian,” as Margulies is not a lesbian.
“Love seeing straight people act like sexuality is some sort of clever gotcha for Palestine supporters,” a redditor wrote. “Girl, you can’t claim us just because your CHARACTER plays for our team.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Margulies’ team for comment.
Correction: An earlier version of the piece misspelled Julianna Margulies.
