Three of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies, representing A-listers including Tom Cruise and Susan Sarandon, are in the spotlight after clients and staff made public statements on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

A week after US actor and Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, 77, addressed a crowd at a pro-Palestinian rally at New York City’s Union Square on November 17, where her speech was well received, she was dropped by her talent agency.

The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday (local time) that a spokesperson said Los-Angeles based United Talent Agency (UTA) is no longer representing Sarandon.

“The parting of ways follows controversial remarks made at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York City’s Union Square,” it wrote.

Sarandon, star of Dead Man Walking and Thelma and Louise, joins the list of talent agencies making tough decisions about its clients or staff making public statements on the war.

Across town, influential talent and sports agency CAA (Creative Artists Agency) has also faced an internal management crisis after their co-head of the motion picture department, Maha Dakhil, resigned from her leadership role following social media posts about Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas terror attack.

Dakhil’s client list includes big-name talents such as Cruise, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman, Ava DuVernay and Anne Hathaway.

CAA had made its position clear on the conflict, taking to Instagram on October 11 to say it stands with Israel.

“In response, Dakhil was relieved of her duties as co-chief of the motion pictures department, though she was allowed to remain an agent,” reported Variety.

“It didn’t hurt that her most important client, Tom Cruise, made it known to CAA that he was backing her”, says Variety.

Cruise reportedly met Dakhil at her CAA office on November 15.

“A knowledgeable source says he took the rare step of going in person to show support for his embattled agent.”

“I made a mistake with a repost in my Instagram story, which used hurtful language. Like so many of us, I have been reeling with heartbreak. I pride myself on being on the side of humanity and peace,” Dakhil told the outlet in a statement.

“I’m so grateful to Jewish friends and colleagues who pointed out the implications and further educated me. I immediately took the repost down. I’m sorry for the pain I have caused.”

Some CAA staff objected to her treatment. Others felt “disillusioned” and thought she should have been fired.

Separately, management ultimately “cut ties with a staffer and two clients over incendiary anti-Israeli social media posts”.

The dumping of high-profile Hollywood stars and power brokers comes as Israel’s government voted to back a breakthrough deal for Hamas militants to free 50 women and children held as hostages in Gaza in exchange for a four-day ceasefire.

The vote was confirmed in a statement from the Israeli government on Wednesday (Australian time).

Also part of the deal is the release of about 150 Palestinian prisoners, also predominantly women and children.

The deal was approved by the Israeli cabinet by a significant majority, a government source told CNN.

It will be the first truce of a war in which Israeli bombardments reportedly killed 13,300 civilians in the enclave and left about two-thirds of its 2.3 million people homeless, according to authorities in Gaza.

Melissa Barrera at the premiere screening of Carmen in Hollywood in April. Photo: Getty

Scream actor dropped after controversial comments

Mexican actor Melissa Barrera has also been dropped from her return role in the Scream horror franchise after posting comments on the ongoing Middle East conflict on her Instagram.

Barrara, 33, was part of the cast in the fifth and sixth films.

A spokesperson for Spyglass Media Group confirmed to Variety that Barrera’s posts were interpreted as anti-semitic and she would not be part of Scream VII.

“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” a Spyglass spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Vanity Fair says many writers are “furious” the Writers Guild of America – which went on a 148-day strike to support better conditions for writers – hasn’t made a formal statement condemning Hamas.

US journalist, writer and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates, represented by UTA, has also come under fire from agents within the company, pushing for UTA to part ways with him after he signed an open letter from participants in the Palestine Festival of Literature on October 14.

A group of more than 300 film and TV writers including Jerry Seinfeld, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Jenji Kohan and Matthew Weiner signed an open letter on October 15.

They called out the WGA for not taking a public stance against the October 7 attack.

“The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people is complex and full of nuance, but the crimes committed on October 7th were simple and cruel,” they wrote, THR reported.

“If we cannot stand up to call it what it is – a monstrous act of barbarity– then we have lost the plot.”

Polarisation is ‘notable’

For a town quick to declare Black Lives Matter, the #MeToo movement, Roe v Wade and a united front when it came to the Trump administration, the “polarisation is notable”, observes Variety in its investigative report.

It notes there’s a growing number of power brokers, actors and rank and file who are “incensed by the hostile rhetoric surrounding Israel” while adding that others feel a “kinship” with the Palestinian cause.

Variety describes a “combustible atmosphere” in Hollywood right now.