Billie Eilish arrives at Oscars wearing pin calling for Gaza ceasefire
American actor Ramy Youssef, who was in Poor Things, also arrived wearing an Artists4Ceasefire campaign pin.
Oscar-nominated US musicians Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell arrived at the Academy Awards red carpet wearing a red pin, which calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
Eilish and her brother O’Connell, who are up for an original song award for Barbie tune What Was I Made For?, both leant their support to the Artists4Ceasefire campaign ahead of the Oscars at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
They previously won an Oscar in the same category for James Bond theme song No Time To Die.
The Artists4Ceasefire group says the pin symbolises “collective support for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza”.
American actors Ramy Youssef and Mark Ruffalo, who both starred in surreal comedy Poor Things, up for a best picture Oscar, US director Ava DuVernay and British actor Riz Ahmed were also among those arriving with a pin.
Youssef told Deadline that “it’s about ‘stop killing kids'”.
“We’re using our voices to speak to people’s hearts,” he added.
“We want people to have safety and justice.”
He also said: “It’s obviously something a lot of people have a lot of opinions about, and I think there can be a place and time to process feelings.
“The best time to process feelings is when there isn’t active violence happening. So, we need to stop the violence, we need to stop the bombing.”
In October, Hamas – a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK – invaded Israel, kidnapping hundreds of civilians and taking them back to the Gaza Strip as well as killing more than 1,000.
The Israeli Government has retaliated with months of attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding tens of thousands.
