Dawn French issues apology following backlash to Gaza video

Comedian and actor Dawn French has apologised after a video she posted about the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Palestine was met with backlash.

The 67-year-old shared a video on Thursday (5 June) where she attempted to critique those supporting Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

In the since-deleted video, The Vicar of Dibley star said, in an exaggerated tone, “complicated, no, but nuanced. But [the] bottom line is no.

“Yeah, but you know they did a bad thing to us… and we want that land… and we have history… Those people aren’t really even people, are they?” she continued with each statement ending with “no”.

The video, which was viewed more than four million times, was strongly critiqued, with many feeling that she trivialised the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

In response, French issued a lengthy apology and acknowledged that her satirical video failed in its original intention.

“OK, it’s important for me to address this. I posted a video in the style I’ve been using for social media in an effort to convey an important point. I clumsily used a mocking tone.

“My intention was NEVER to mock, or dismiss, or diminish the horror of what happened on 7 October 2023 and what continues to unfold from that brutal, unthinkable, unforgivable savage [attack]. My heart broke for the many innocent people and their families that were killed, tortured, raped and kidnapped. The fact that hostages are still held is utterly appalling.”

She added that her aim was to “mock and point the finger of shame at the behaviour of the cruel leaders on ALL sides of this atrocious war, who have continued to behave like the worst, dangerous, sickening bullies and seem to relish the tyrannical and childish one-upmanship of the violence. They were my target, but clearly I failed to do that, and that’s on me”.

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French continued by apologising that her “disgust at Hamas didn’t figure” and that her video “appeared one-sided”.

The star said that she had been motivated to make the video out of the growing sense of helplessness around the war, particularly the suffering of children in Gaza.

“The images of starving and wounded children have haunted me day and night,” French wrote. “History has taught us never to stand by and allow this kind of inhumane violence to be wrought on anyone, especially innocent children.

“I have felt my silence is complicit or even somehow sanctioning. So in my small way, I wanted to voice my desire to say ‘NO’ – to both sides – to any further violence.

“I hope you will understand my intention was not to offend, but clearly I have. For which I am sorry, and I have removed the video.”

Palestinian health authorities state that more than 52,800 people, a large proportion of whom are women and children, have been killed in the Israel-Gaza conflict, which many human rights organisations have described as a genocide.

Mirjana Spoljaric, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told the BBC on Wednesday (4 June) that the enclave had become “worse than hell on earth” and that states are not doing enough to end the war, end the suffering of Palestinians and secure the release of Israeli hostages.