# Artists4Ceasefire

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Artists4Ceasefire is a collective of actors, filmmakers, and other artists calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire during the Israel–Hamas war in Gaza, the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians, and the release of all hostages. The collective was started on October 20, 2023, two weeks after the October 7 attacks.
The group that first formed to call for a ceasefire launched a new campaign on September 5, 2024, calling on the U.S. to stop sending Israel weapons, citing "grave human rights violations".

## Open letter

In October 2023, 55 artists and entertainment industry members signed an open letter to President Joe Biden as part of the collective demanding a ceasefire. The letter has expanded to include hundreds of artists, including Drake, Jennifer Lopez, Bella and Gigi Hadid, Michael Stipe, Cate Blanchett, Zayn Malik, Frank Ocean, Rachel McAdams, Oscar Isaac, Bradley Cooper, David Oyelowo, Ben Affleck, John Cusack, Kristen Stewart, Channing Tatum, Quinta Brunson, Sandra Oh, Jon Stewart, and Joaquin Phoenix. The letter reads: "We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians." Its other signatories include Tom Hardy, Milla Jovovich, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Annie Lennox, Alyssa Milano, Jim Jarmusch, Brian Cox, Michael Moore, Andrew Garfield, Alfonso Cuarón, Selena Gomez, Janelle Monáe, Lupita Nyong'o, Hasan Minhaj, Jeremy Strong, Ayo Edebiri, Jenna Ortega, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Dua Lipa, and Mark Rylance.
In September 2024, Artists4Ceasefire joined with Oxfam America, ActionAid, and Shepard Fairey to issue a call to action titled "Stop Weapons, Save Lives". Among those calling for a U.S. arms embargo on Israel are Mahershala Ali, Cynthia Nixon, Mark Ruffalo, and Ilana Glazer. "Our demand is simple—our elected leaders must enforce existing U.S. and international humanitarian laws that prohibit the use of military assistance to commit grave human rights violations", Ruffalo said.

## Pin design

The Artists4Ceasefire enamel pin depicts an orange hand with a black heart inside on a red background. Snopes compared the orange hand used in the design to red-hand symbols including the Red Hand of Ulster (a symbol used for the Irish province of Ulster), the symbol for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), and people criticizing Israel as having "blood on its hands" for its actions in Gaza. The Israeli government and New York Post journalist David Kaufman said that the symbol represents the 2000 Ramallah lynching, while Seth Mandel wrote in an editorial in The Free Press that it "is meant to valorize the murderers of Jews." Artists4Ceasefire stressed that the hand was orange, not red, but did not comment on whether the symbol was a reference to the lynchings.

## Members of the collective
### People wearing pins

Several attendees of the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony wore red Artists4Ceasefire badges, including Quannah Chasinghorse, Finneas O'Connell, Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo, Ava DuVernay, Ramy Youssef, Riz Ahmed, Mahershala Ali, Kaouther Ben Hania and Misan Harriman. Some attendees also wore Palestinian flag pins, including Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud. In an interview at the event, Youssef said:
   We are all calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. We are calling for the safety of everyone involved and we really want lasting justice and peace for the Palestinian people.
At the 2024 Grammy Awards, musician Annie Lennox finished her tribute to Sinéad O'Connor by saying, "Artists for ceasefire, peace in the world". The members of Boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker) and Bo Burnham also wore Artists4Ceasefire pins.
Tony Shalhoub and Ebon Moss-Bachrach wore the pins at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards.
At the Directors Guild of America Awards in February 2024, Ruffalo wore the pin and said: "We’re not going to bomb our way to peace".

## Endorsements

Artists4Ceasefire's message was spread through a partnership with artist Shepard Fairey and several humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam America, ActionAid USA, and the War Child Alliance. On October 27, 2023, Oxfam US declared its support for the collective via posts and stories on its Instagram account. On November 6, 2023, ActionAid USA released a statement of its support for the collective.