Protesters calling for ceasefire in Gaza block traffic and delay start of Oscars awards ceremony in Hollywood

Los Angeles, March 11 (RHC)-- Protesters calling for ceasefire in Gaza block traffic and delay start of Oscars awards ceremony in Hollywood Sunday evening.

Celebrities including Billie Eilish, director Ava DuVernay, Poor Things star Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef and many more showed up to the red carpet for the 96th Academy Awards wearing red pins in support of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as a protest delayed stars’ arrivals.

“We’re all calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. We’re calling for the safety of everyone involved. We really want lasting justice and peace for the Palestinian people,” Youssef said during a red carpet interview. “We really just want to say, ‘let’s just stop killing children.’ There’s so much there to process and it feels like the easiest way to have the conversations that people want to have is when they’re isn’t an active bombing campaign happening.”

The pins are part of an effort launched by Artists4Ceasefire, a group of individuals in the entertainment industry who penned an open letter to Joe Biden to demand a ceasefire.

Stars wear red Gaza ceasefire pins at 96th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood

“Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed,” the letter, signed by celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Stewart, Mahershala Ali, Jennifer Lopez and Ava DuVernay reads.

Alongside Eilish, Ruffalo, DuVernay and Youssef, Nimona actor Eugene Lee Yang, director Misan Harriman, nominated for best live action short film for The After, and writer-director Kaouther Ben Hania, nominated for best documentary feature for Four Daughters were also seen wearing the pins.

Ahead of and during the red carpet, pro-Palestinian protesters blocked traffic in front of the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. They shouted at fans and stars alike: “Ceasefire now! Free Palestine.”

Hundreds of protesters also delayed the arrival of many big stars, with a reporter for the New York Times claiming that they “shut down the cross street of Highland and Fountain, a main thoroughfare”. The reporter also noted that the Academy sent golf carts to retrieve the stars who got stuck.

Prior to Sunday’s ceremony, the red pins made appearances at the Grammys and Screen Actors Guild awards (Sag). On the 2024 Grammys red carpet, Boygenius members Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker wore them; Tony Shalhoub and Ebon Moss-Bachrach later rocked them at the Sag awards.

There were also stars seen wearing buttons with the Palestinian flag, including Anatomy of a Fall stars Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud.

Hundreds of protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza blocked traffic on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood Sunday, forcing a short delay to the start of the Oscars.