I heard about this earlier, but my day job prevented me from being able to blog anything about it.
Eventhough I’m a tad late on it, it still is worth mentioning. It’s not all that often we get to take note of courage in hollywood. Real life courage, that is.
Too bad they had to pay for an ad though. If they had been rallying in support of hezbollah and burning American or Israeli flags, they’d have gotten wall-to-wall coverage for free.
But they can probably afford to break free of a few bucks for the Red, White and Blue!
Nicole Kidman and 83 Hollywood heavyweights are using the power of the press to speak out against terrorism.
She has joined 84 other high-profile Hollywood stars, directors, studio bosses and media moguls, including News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, has taken out a powerfully-worded full page advertisement in today’s Los Angeles Times newspaper.
It specifically targets “terrorist organisations” such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Palestine.
“We the undersigned are pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organisations such as Hizbollah and Hamas,” the ad reads.
“If we do not succeed in stopping terrorism around the world, chaos will rule and innocent people will continue to die.
“We need to support democratic societies and stop terrorism at all costs.”
A who’s who of Hollywood heavyweights joined Kidman and Murdoch on the ad.
The actors listed included: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton and William Hurt.
Directors Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Dick Donner and Sam Raimi also signed their names.
Other Hollywood powerplayers supporting the ad included Sumner Redstone, the chairman and majority owner of Paramount Pictures, and billionaire mogul, Haim Saban.
Jules Crittenden writes an excellent article in The Boston Herald
I’ve been wondering if it is possible for me to describe exactly how much I don’t give a damn what actors think. Or rock stars.
~~ snip ~~
Yesterday, a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times by an A-list of actors denounced the killing of innocents in Lebanon and Israel. They laid the blame exactly where it belongs.
La-la luminaries Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton of “Everyone Loves Raymond,” William Hurt and 73 others said they are “pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas.”
The amount of logic and empathy on display, the willingness to break from prevailing views that Israel’s act of self-defense was “disproportionate” and that Hezbollah should be allowed to fire from within civilian populations, is astonishing.
I still, by and large, don’t give a damn what actors think. But in this case, the pigs have taken flight. I have a prediction. More of them will emerge. Actors who think it’s cool to oppose murderous terrorist groups and have the totally cool sophistication to appreciate some level of complexity in world affairs. Actors who have the ability to look past the immediate emotional impulse, buck the cocktail party clucking, and transcend superficiality. This is something different, and I’m interested.
Besides, Nicole Kidman is hot.
I don’t know how hot she is (some of the guys on the list are though), but I have liked her movies, especially since she left that little perpetual adolescent, and will like them even better now.
It takes guts to speak out FOR America and AGAINST terrorism in America and hollywood in particular. Maybe they will help make it ‘cool’ to speak out, support the troops and support our country against it’s enemies. Wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace!
Then maybe we can let go of all this PC stuff that keeps getting in the way of our ability to protect ourselves and fight this war.
Anyway, good for them.
Some more celebrities that support the troops and our country:
I Think I’m in Love With Charlie Daniels
Operation Iraqi Children
Urban Grounds has a complete list of the signers.
More: Annika’s Journal, Tel-Chai Nation, Michelle Malkin, Wizbang, Power Line, The Buzz Blog, Old War Dogs, Webloggin, Sammenhold, Democracy Project, Captain’s Qtrs, Riehl World View, Independent Sources, Coalition of the Swilling, Jawa Report, Bookworm Room, Radio Blogger, Woman Honor Thyself, Gateway Pundit, Texas Rainmaker, LGF, The Gentle Cricket, California Conservative, Overtaken by Events, The Right Nation, Blue Crab Boulevard, Alamo Nation, ProCynic, 123Beta, USS Neverdock
August 18th, 2006 at 12:21 am
I am like the kid who has been burned too many times. I am waiting for the other shoe…perhaps next week we will see them ragging on Israel for killing paleos…watch, I bet I’m right.
August 18th, 2006 at 12:35 am
You could be right. But several of the people on the list have been consistant supporters of our country - Bruce Willis for one. I’d feel better if they had spoken out sooner - and against the insurgents in Iraq.
But - hey - it’s pretty deep stuff for hollywood.
August 18th, 2006 at 1:01 am
Good for Nicole - makes me proud of my fellow Tennessee resident.
August 18th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
There are 84 Good People in Hollywood…
With Liberal Hollywood stars like Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and Barbara Strei ……
August 18th, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Gee, hottie vs. jihadis…
Dear Terrorists: You probably think because I’m a big famous Hollywood movie star, I’m a pushover. Well, you guessed wrong, hajji. … Here’s the point, Sheik Nasrallah: This red-hot sexy body of mine? You’re never going to get it. Tom got it. Keit…
August 20th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Pretty cool.