Will Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow and Other Stars Remain Silent After Backlash Over Attending Saudi Film Festival
A handful of A-listers have yet to respond to the backlash over attending the Red Sea International Film Festival.
Dec. 5 2023, Published 10:00 a.m. ET
Some members of Hollywood's elite are facing backlash after agreeing to travel to Saudi Arabia for a controversial film festival, most of whom have remained silent on the matter.
RadarOnline.com reached out to reps for Will Smith, Sofía Vergara, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Michelle Williams after a report claimed stars were offered as much as $1 million to make an appearance overseas this past week.
RadarOnline.com reached out to reps for Will Smith, Sofía Vergara, Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Williams after a report claimed they each were offered as much as $1 million to make an appearance.
We reached out Monday morning to see if they wanted to address the report, following up again with all reps this afternoon but RadarOnline.com did not hear back with any comment on the record.
Puck News referred to the event as the "blood red carpet" in a Thursday newsletter, which claimed that Smith may have earned even more to show up. CAA negotiated around $900k for Williams, insiders claimed, while the agency declined to comment.
A spokesman for the festival confirmed that Paltrow is to appear "In Conversation" with the CEO of Arab News, Jomana Al Rashid, on Wednesday night.
Paltrow said she was 'shocked' and that it felt 'eerie' to learn her mother had contracted the same cancer as her late father, Bruce Paltrow.
Vergara, for her part, recently attended the Women In Cinema Gala, also taking the stage to rave over the food and people.
Smith opened up about his personal mistakes, his hopes to film a project in Saudi Arabia, and his upcoming sequel to I Am Legend while attending the festival.
Many of the A-listers who showed up or have plans to have been accused of overlooking Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses for a paycheck.
Sofia Vergara was 26-years-old when her older brother was gunned down in Colombia.
The fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, for one, slammed the stars who attended years after U.S. intelligence determined that a team of 15 Saudi agents had worked together to carry out a "capture or kill" operation allegedly approved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Khashoggi's remains have never been discovered.
"What I could say is that it's unacceptable and shameful," Hatice Cengiz told RadarOnline.com in a statement.
The fiancée of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, for one, slammed the stars who attended.
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"Instead of using their voice to call for the release of Saudi human rights defenders and end of abuses, they are unfortunately too happy taking the Saudi government’s money to arts-wash its abhorrent human rights record," Sevag Kechichian, a senior researcher for Khashoggi's non-profit Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), echoed.
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Kechichian added, "It is deeply disappointing that celebrities continue to actively participate in Saudi Arabia's image laundering by attending the Red Sea Film Festival."
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