Over 150 entertainment industry leaders have signed an open letter, issued by Creative Community For Peace (CCFP), urging the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) to withdraw Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda’s 2024 Emmy nomination.
Bisan, together with the media outlet AJ+, received a nomination in the Outstanding Hard News Feature Story Short Form category at the 2024 News & Documentary Emmys for the documentary ‘It’s Bisan From Gaza and I’m Still Alive’.
The film follows her family’s harrowing journey as they escape the Israeli bombardment of their home in Beit Hanoun and seek refuge in what was thought to be the “safe zone” of Al-Shifa Hospital.
The letter noted Owda’s alleged connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States.
The signatories, including former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, billionaire Haim Saban, entertainment manager Michael Rotenberg and actors Selma Blair and Debra Messing claimed that recognising someone with ties to the PFLP, who has also participated in its rallies would effectively legitimise a terrorist group and tarnish the reputation of the Emmys.
“NATAS must decide – they can either condone the murder of innocent civilians or they can listen to the entertainment community, and stand in opposition to hatred and violence,”
David Renzer, co-founder and chairman of CCFP, said.
NATAS CEO Adam Sharp responded to the letter stating that the organisation had been “unable to corroborate these reports” and had not found any evidence of recent or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP.
In a letter to Ari Ingel, the executive director of Creative Community for Peace, Sharp acknowledged that past Emmy-nominated documentaries “have been controversial, giving a platform to voices that certain viewers may find objectionable or even abhorrent. But all have been in the service of the journalistic mission to capture every facet of the story.”
Owda has gained millions of social media followers by documenting Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip.
More than ten months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
READ: UN says nearly 86% of Gaza Strip under Israeli evacuation orders