Selma Blair splits with Creative Artists Agency following anti-Islamic comments
“Cruel Intentions” star Selma Blair has split with several members of her team amid controversy surrounding an anti-Islamic comment she made on social media.
In addition to parting ways with Creative Artists Agency, Blair has ended her partnerships with her publicity team at Narrative PR and legal representatives at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman, the Daily Mail reported. She is still with the management firm Wishlab Inc., but has changed managers.
While promoting her forthcoming documentary about her journey with multiple sclerosis, Selma Blair discussed living in remission from the disease.
While neither the actor nor her former representatives issued public statements about the switch-ups or what prompted them, the Hollywood Reporter said, “It is understood that [Blair] made the decision to clean house.”
Blair’s former representatives at CAA, Narrative PR and Wishlab did not immediately reply Friday to The Times’ requests for comment. Representatives at Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman were not available for comment.
“The Sweetest Thing” and “Heathers” star’s moves come less than a month after she came under fire for an Instagram comment in which she referred to U.S. House Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.) as “terrorist supporting goons.”
Blair left the controversial comment on a post by Abraham Hamra, a Syrian Jewish refugee who called out Tlaib and Bush for being the sole opponents to a congressional measure prohibiting anyone who participated in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 from immigrating to the U.S.
Tlaib — the only Palestinian American member of Congress — defended her vote by saying that the measure was “redundant with already existing federal law.”
“It’s just another GOP messaging bill being used to incite anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Muslim hatred that makes communities like ours unsafe,” she said.
The House has voted to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib for her rhetoric about the Israel-Hamas war, in a stunning rebuke of the Michigan Democrat.
In his video post, Hamra called Tlaib a “hateful antisemite” and said, “Jews have been victimized by the Arabs, not the other way around.”
Blair, who is Jewish, responded with her since-deleted comment: “Thank you very much. Deport all these terrorist supporting goons. Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroy minds. They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they meet their fate.”
Days later, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, condemned Blair’s statement — and called for film studios and talent agencies to “stop punishing artists who express support for Palestinian human rights while ignoring hateful comments by artists who support the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
“Based on the hateful and ignorant remarks that Ms. Blair made, we doubt that she has ever engaged in any meaningful interactions with her Muslim colleagues in Hollywood or other members of the American Muslim community,” CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in the Feb. 10 statement. “We encourage Ms. Blair to apologize, and we also invite her to dialogue with our community.”
On Feb. 13, Blair issued an apology, writing, “In my comment, I mistakenly and inadvertently conflated Muslims with Radical Islamists and fundamentalists, a terrible err in my words, and resulted in hurting countless people I never meant to, and I deeply regret this.”
She also acknowledged her Muslim friends, whom she credited with educating her and showing her how to move forward.
“We cannot allow ignorance and rage to becomes [sic] our downfall. I raise my hand in humility and volunteer to break the chain,” she said. “I will do better.”
President Biden has signaled that a cease-fire in Gaza could be at hand, but Israel and Hamas indicate no deal is imminent.
This week, The Times reported that the city of Ojai joined the more than 50 U.S. cities that have passed resolutions calling for a cease-fire or advocating more broadly for peace, according to a Reuters analysis of municipal data.
In addition, Israel’s Thursday attack on Palestinians receiving aid in Rafah brought the death toll in Gaza to more than 30,000, health officials in the territory said.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
