Just when you thought Javier Bardem couldn’t get cooler, he took his activism to the Oscars
The actor was very, very vocal about his advocacy at this year's Academy Awards.
One of the most iconic moments from Sunday’s Academy Awards was the presentation of the Best International Feature award, where Spanish actor Javier Bardem stepped onto the stage wearing a Palestine pin and another one calling for an end to all war.
On stage, he made his stance even clearer, saying, “No to war, and free Palestine”. The statement earned loud applause from many people in attendance, except Priyanka Chopra, who was standing beside him as the award’s co-presenter.
The Indian actor stood on stage, seemingly caught off-guard and awkwardly smiled at Bardem. Her reaction and the fact that she isn’t exactly anti-war ensured one thing: the internet was not going to let her live this down.
Users were quick to point out how she didn’t seem to be onboard for what is seemingly a common sense stance from Bardem.
Her support for the BJP government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also brought up, especially in the context of its repression of India’s sizeable Muslim minority.
Chopra’s credentials as a goodwill ambassador for Unicef were also called into question for the umpteenth time. This has become a bit of a recurring theme after she was called out for promoting war between two nuclear-armed states and not saying nearly enough during Israel’s brutal war on Gaza. She shared one post on Instagram calling for a ceasefire and reshared a story another time, something many, many people think was the bare minimum.
Comparisons were drawn between Chopra’s support for the Indian military when it attacked Pakistan in 2019 and Israeli actor Gal Gadot, who is a staunch supporter of the Israeli Defence Forces.
Pakistani users — and even a few from India — refusing to waste an opportunity to make a meme out of the whole situation, began referring to the Indian actor as Daal Gadot.
What we don’t get is why she wasn’t prepared for Bardem — who is a very vocal anti-war and pro-Palestine advocate — to make a statement like the one he made on Sunday. And if nothing else, the actor could have at least schooled her features into an expression that was less uncomfortable.