Big celebrities who've used their platforms to advocate against injustice have helped create real change in the past. For example, in 1964, the Beatles refused to play in front of a segregated audience in Jacksonville, Florida. John Lennon said, "We never play to segregated audiences, and we aren't going to start now. I'd sooner lose our appearance money." So, the city officials allowed for integration, and the show went on. The Beatles' later contracts specified that they "not be required to perform in front of a segregated audience."
And during the AIDS epidemic, Elizabeth Taylor became the first big celebrity to speak out about the crisis, ignoring all the people who warned her it might ruin her career. At her very first fundraiser dinner, she raised $1.3 million for the AIDS Project Los Angeles, and in 1987, she urged then-president Reagan to finally make his first public speech about AIDS. Taylor reportedly once said, "I resented my fame until I realized I could use it."
However, every time a celebrity speaks up, someone always tries to silence them. Here are 14 celebrities who were punished by Hollywood for speaking out about important issues:
1.
Macklemore has long been vocal about the genocide in Gaza. (In September 2025, a two-year investigation by the United Nations determined that Israel has "flagrantly disregarded" international laws and "orchestrated a genocidal campaign" in Gaza "for almost two years now." The authors said that their conclusion that Israel is committing a genocide against the Palestinian people is "the strongest and most authoritative UN finding to date.") His 2024 single "Hind's Hall" is a protest song condemning the Israeli military's operations in Gaza.
In 2026, the rapper joined Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour as the opener. Before performing "Hind's Hall," he told the audience, "A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so that I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very, very dear to my heart: Free Palestine. I want those words to be loud and clear, so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them."
Some people — including fellow artist Pink, who reshared IG story posts accusing the rapper of "anti-Israel propaganda" — called for his removal from the tour. Shortly after, Macklemore was officially dropped from the tour. In a statement, he said, "I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim... The victims are the Palestinian people." He also alleged that Sheeran told him that Kraft Group CEO Robert Kraft had refused to allow him to perform at Gillette Stadium and had rallied other stadium owners, creating an ultimatum: "If Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues."
In a statement, Kraft said Gillette Stadium would not "provide a platform for hate speech," citing Macklemore's "recent actions" and what he described as a" broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery." He stressed that the decision was "not about diminishing the suffering of innocent Palestinians or denying anyone the right to advocate on their behalf."
Then, in his own statement, Sheeran later said he had tried to resolve the dispute with the venues and Kraft, but emphasized, "Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter's decision, it was not mine." He also said that "there is a reason [he does] not use [his] professional platform for politics." In the aftermath, FINNEAS, Aaron Rowe, Lukas Graham, and Sheeran’s backing band Beoga also dropped off the tour in support of Palestinians.
2.
In 2023, Melissa Barrera began using her social media to speak out about the genocide in Gaza. For example, in one of her Instagram stories, she said, "Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with no where to go, no electricity no water … People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING."
As a result, she was fired from Scream VII. In a statement, Spyglass, the Scream VII production company, told the Hollywood Reporter, "Spyglass' stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion, or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech."
In response to her removal from the Scream franchise, Barrera posted this statement on her IG story: "First and foremost, I condemn Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people. As a latina, a proud Mexicana, I feel the responsibility of having a platform that allows me the privilege of being heard, and therefore I have tried to use it to raise awareness about issues I care about and to lend my voice to those in need. Every person on this earth- regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status- deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom."
For nearly a year, she couldn't get any work. In 2026, she told Variety, "I had faith. I was like, 'Someone is going to reach out to me and help me. It's just a matter of time.' You know who was the only person? Boots Riley. I love him. He reached out to me ten months later — I had ten torturous months of uncertainty, and no work, and suffering, and not even knowing if my team was on my side, it was terrible — and Boots sent me a message in August of 2024 and was like, 'I got a part for you in my movie.' And he offered me a part in I Love Boosters. And for some reason, once Boots sent me that message, I suddenly had five messages with offers in my inbox. It's like he flipped a switch."
Barrera later made her Broadway debut in Titaníque. She said, "One of the reasons that I wanted to do theater in 2026 is because I needed a break from all the bullshit that is Hollywood — and I mean specifically Hollywood, not the film or television industry at large. I needed a break because I'm still blocked from certain places to this day. I only have a myopic vision of my own life, but I don't think anyone in the entertainment industry was affected the way that I was. I was looking at the promotional poster for this new show, The Sweetest Kill, and the tagline said, 'She knew the cost. She did it anyway.' And I was like, 'That's me.' I became the face of it, and I didn't want that, nor should I have been."
3.
In 1973, when Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather, he famously sent actor, activist, and National Native American Affirmative Image Committee president Sacheen Littlefeather to decline the award on his behalf. She spoke out about the treatment of Indigenous people in Hollywood as well as the Wounded Knee Occupation, a 71-day standoff between about 200 armed American Indian Movement activists and up to 300 US Marshals and FBI agents, who were armed with M-16 rifles and gas masks.
Both Brando and Littlefeather faced a lot of backlash from the press and their peers. However, it was, of course, much worse for Littlefeather. For example, Playboy dug up previously rejected pictures she'd posed for and published a three-page spread.
In a 2022 interview with the Academy, she said, "[John Wayne] did not like what I was saying up at the podium. So, he came forth in a rage to physically assault and take me off the stage. And he had to be restrained by six security men in order for that not to happen... [Afterward] a lot of cheap shots were thrown at me. And there were a lot of rumors, gossip columnists that were trying to make it something that it was not. And I was boycotted from every talk show while people talked about me. I could not and was not allowed to speak for myself. It was as though I was silenced."
4.
In 1992, Sinéad O'Connor performed an a cappella cover of "War" by Bob Marley on Saturday Night Live. Near the end, she changed the lyrics to "child abuse" and tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II. She said, "Fight the real enemy." The studio was dead silent after producer Lorne Michaels reportedly ordered the applause sign to be turned off.
The display was a protest against child abuse within the Catholic church, but instead of focusing on her message, the media fixated on the fallout in her career. In response, SNL handed O'Connor a lifetime ban. On the next episode, host Joe Pesci said, "If it was my show, I would have gave her such a smack," and musical guest Madonna mockingly tore up a photo of Joey Buttafuoco, a tabloid sensation who was later convicted of statutory rape. In 2021, O'Connor told the New York Times, "I'm not sorry I did it. It was brilliant. But it was very traumatizing. It was open season on treating me like a crazy bitch."
Her third album, Am I Not Your Girl?, was released just a few days before her SNL performance. It only charted #27 on the Billboard 200, a sharp decline from her previous release, which went #1. She never recaptured the immense success of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, but she remained a beloved and iconic performer, just on a smaller scale. In her 2021 memoir, Rememberings, she said, "Everyone wants a pop star, see? But I am a protest singer. I just had stuff to get off my chest. I had no desire for fame."
5.
In the '90s, Ellen DeGeneres was known for her ABC sitcom, Ellen. For many years, she purposefully drew sharp boundaries between her private life and her public one. But then, in 1997, she came out with a three-word headline on the cover of Time: "Yep, I'm gay." Her sitcom character also came out as a lesbian in Season 4, making her the first gay lead character on a network show in the US.
Afterward, some advertisers pulled out. ABC and Disney were boycotted by Christian groups. Ellen was canceled after one more season, and several episodes were given a "parental advisory warning." DeGeneres later told Today, "The biggest thing was that I lost my career. For three years, I couldn't work, and was not offered one thing. I was running out of money and didn't know if I was going to work again. I was 45 years old, and I was like, 'This doesn't look good.' ... It taught me compassion. It taught me that I was strong enough to start all over again. It was the greatest thing to ever happen to me."
6.
Laura Dern supported Ellen DeGeneres's coming out by playing her love interest on Ellen. In 2019, Dern told Vulture, "[The episode was the] greatest thing I could've ever been part of, honestly. An incredible honor. She was a big fan of Citizen Ruth, and she asked me, would I come join this effort? Not just to play a role, because there were several of us. Oprah, who played her therapist in the episode, obviously the cast of her show. I was excited. I didn't think twice about it. It was a great opportunity."
The role put Dern in potential physical danger. She said, "The first time I became aware was, Oprah and I were having a snack, and suddenly a flood of cops swarmed the set and the stage while we were rehearsing. They're like, 'There's been a bomb threat, we're sweeping the stage.' And they start literally rushing us off the stage. We only did it for what, ten days? We all spent the next couple of years really struggling in work and safety. It was radical to experience that. It was the only time I ever experienced having to have full security detail."
Despite her decade-defining role in Jurassic Park, Dern didn't get any work for a year. She said, "It was significant. It was significant because I was doing successful independent movies, and, only months before that, I was in Jurassic Park, the most successful movie ever. So it was like, you're being offered this, you're being offered that — and it just stopped. Which is kind of wild. By good fortune of the long path of a career, you can look back and say, how great to have it be felt, how backward we are. I took time off when I had my son, and I feel like, in a way, it gave room for less opportunity. I will say, for women, it's hard to take time off by choice, because then you feel like you have to start all over when you're coming back to something."
7.
Late '80s soap star-turned-'90s rising movie star Anne Heche publicly dated Ellen DeGeneres from 1997 to 2000. She was allegedly blacklisted over the relationship. In 2021, Heche told Page Six that she felt she was "patient zero in cancel culture." She said, "This wasn't a long-term love affair. This was a moment in my life when I was given the glory of being able to stand up for what I believe in and have since I was a kid."
The backlash came after she brought DeGeneres as her date to the Volcano premiere — a decision Heche made "about living in loving-kindness." She said, "I didn't do a studio picture for 10 years. I was fired from a $10 million picture deal and did not see the light of day in a studio picture... Those repercussions that happened are to me what has created a part of the change. I'm a part of it. It is a badge of honor."
8.
Even though same-sex marriage was federally legalized in 2015, celebrities still continued to face career fallout for coming out. Alyson Stoner came out as queer in a 2018 Teen Vogue essay, writing, "Some people in the industry warned me that I'd ruin my career, miss out on possible jobs, and potentially put my life in danger if I ever came out. My dream and all I'd worked tirelessly for since the age of 6 was suddenly at risk by my being...true to myself."
Then, appearing on the Past Your Bedtime podcast in 2023, they confirmed that some of their worst fears had come true. They said, "I did end up getting fired from a children's show because they felt that I was unsafe, now that they knew I was queer, to be around kids. So there was, like, definitely discrimination there, but the beauty far outweighs the hate comments and death threats."
9.
In 2003, during a Chicks concert in London, singer Natalie Maines spoke out against the US's invasion of Iraq and then-president George W. Bush. She told the British audience, "Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence. And we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." The Guardian's review of the concert spread a condensed version of her quote: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."
The backlash from the conservative country music community was swift. All across the US, country radio stations were flooded with calls demanding they stop playing the band's music, and several radio stations called for a boycott of their album and tour. Fellow country artist and self-proclaimed "very conservative Democrat" Toby Keith sang in front of a large picture of Maines and Saddam Hussein. In Kansas City, one radio station organized a "chicken toss" party, where fans were encouraged to trash their Chicks tickets and albums.
The Chicks effectively lost their core audience. At the time, Maines released the following apology statement: "As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect." However, three years later, she walked it back, telling Time, "I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."
10.
While presenting the award for Best Art Direction at the 1993 Academy Awards, Richard Gere was supposed to read a joke about famous painters from the teleprompter, but instead, he called out the Chinese government and the "horrendous, horrendous human-rights situation" in Tibet (the Chinese occupation of Tibet).
He said, "To my friends, I want to say hello up in Vancouver —right now we are doing Intersection up there. Hi, guys. I'll see you later tonight. I had a thought about something, actually, before I came out. I want to share it with you. It's going to be short. I was really struck by this idea that there were 1 billion people watching this thing. It's astonishing — 1 billion people watching. And I was curious about what countries this was actually going to. And it is, in fact, being seen in China right now. And the first thought that came to me was, I wondered if Deng Xiaoping is actually watching this right now, with his children and his grandchildren, and with the knowledge that...what a horrendous, horrendous human rights situation there is in China, not only toward their own people but to Tibet as well."
As a result, he was reportedly banned from the Oscars for 20 years (which the Academy denied, stating that they don't ban presenters). He was also allegedly blocked from starring in certain movies (China is the second-largest box office market in the world). In 2017, he told the Hollywood Reporter, "There are definitely movies that I can't be in because the Chinese will say, 'Not with him.' I recently had an episode where someone said they could not finance a film with me because it would upset the Chinese."
The first big roadblock he faced was in 1997, while he was promoting Red Corner. He said, "Everyone was happy with the film. I get calls from the heads of the studio. Went on Oprah. Then, out of nowhere, I get calls saying, 'We don't want you doing press.' MGM wanted to make an overall deal with the Chinese. China told them, 'If you release this film, we're not buying it.' And so, they dumped it. ... I'm not interested in playing the wizened Jedi in your tentpole. I was successful enough in the last three decades that I can afford to do these [smaller films] now."
11.
Bella Hadid, who has Palestinian heritage through her father, has been openly supportive of Palestine for many years. For example, in 2017, following President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (Palestinians also claim Jerusalem as their capital, and according to CNN, "the final status of Jerusalem has always been one of the most difficult and sensitive questions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict"), Hadid shared a picture of the Dome of the Rock on Instagram. She wrote, "I've been waiting to put this into perfect words but I realized there is no perfect way to speak of something so unjust. A very very sad day. Watching the news and seeing the pain of the Palestinian people makes me cry for the many many generations of Palestine."
Appearing on journalist Noor Tagouri's podcast, Rep, in 2022, Hadid said, "I had so many companies stop working with me. I had friends that completely dropped me, like even friends I had been having dinner with at their home on Friday nights, for seven years, like now just won't let me at their house anymore. ... I have this overwhelming anxiety of not saying the right thing and not being what everybody needs me to be at all times. But I've also realized that I have done my education enough, I know my family enough, I know my own history enough. And that should be enough."
12.
Susan Sarandon reportedly felt she was blacklisted after speaking at a pro-Palestine rally in 2023. At a New York rally, she said, "There are a lot of people that are afraid, afraid of being Jewish at this time and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence."
Afterward, she was dropped by United Talent Agency. Sarandon later released an apology statement on Instagram, writing, "Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire. I had not planned to speak but was invited to take the stage and say a few words. Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, 'are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.' This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true."
In 2024, she told the Times, "I was dropped by my agency; my projects were pulled. I've been used as an example of what not to do if you want to continue to work... There are so many people out of work right now [since] November of last year … who have lost their jobs as custodians, as writers, as painters, as people working in the cafeteria, substitute teachers who have been fired because they tweeted something, or liked a tweet, or asked for a ceasefire."
13.
After growing up in the spotlight, Dance Moms cast member-turned-popular children's entertainer JoJo Siwa publicly came out at 17. In the 2024 documentary Child Star, she alleged that, after she posted her coming-out video, the Nickelodeon president called her to ask, "What are we going to tell the kids?" She replied, "That I'm happy?" And he allegedly replied, "Well, you need to have a call with every retailer [that sells JoJo Siwa merch] and tell them that you're not going crazy." She said, "I basically got blackballed from the company."
JoJo said, "If the president of my music label called me now and was like, 'Yo, what the fuck?' like the president of my network did then, I would lose my mind. Honestly, I'd be like, 'Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Yes, I'll go back in the closet. Or I'll delete it. I'll say it was a prank. I'll get a boyfriend.' But back then, I was like, 'I'm in love, and I'm happy. Shut up.'"
14.
And finally, Lee Grant was an up-and-coming young actor during the era of the Hollywood blacklist, when Congress created the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate people in Hollywood with alleged communist ties. (Those who were subpoenaed had a choice — they could either cooperate and point fingers at their peers, or they could refuse and face jail time and have their names added to the blacklist.) She had recently won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars when her name appeared on the "Red Channels" list.
Here's why her name ended up on the list: At the time, Grant was married to Arnold Manoff, who was a Communist (though she "knew nothing about it" because she "just couldn't understand it"). Then, when her former costar, J. Edward Bromberg, who'd been blacklisted, died at age 47, she spoke at his memorial service. She said that he'd been afraid of speaking in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee and that, because of his bad heart, he feared the stress would do him in. In her memoir, I Said Yes to Everything, she wrote, "The next day, I was blacklisted. And for twelve years I didn't work.”
Grant was called before the HUAC, but she refused to name anyone. She told CBS News, "They asked me if I got my work through the Communists. They apparently had put together 'Communist agent' with 'theater agent.' So an agent, they thought, was a Communist agent. They were, they were so stupid!"
In 1964, she was finally taken off the blacklist. Two years later, she won the Emmy for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Drama. She went on to win the Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in 1971 and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1975. She also became a prolific documentary director. She told Wussy magazine, "[From ages] 24 to 36, I was blacklisted. Those 12 years created a very aware politically me. All of the documentaries I made afterward came from a period I learned how to fight. It was a very big education for me because I was a riverside drive girl."
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