Mia Khalifa has been reportedly released from her podcasting contract with Playboy after sharing her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Saturday (7 October), the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its largest-ever attack on Israel. As of Tuesday (10 October), 900 people have been killed in Israel as a result of the attacks. Al Jazeera reports that 830 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
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Khalifa, a media personality and former adult content actor, had been a content creator for Playboy, which launched its OnlyFans-esque digital creator platform in March. Since the latest outbreak of violence, Khalifa has been sharing social media content about the conflict in support of Palestine, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
In one post on Twitter/X from Saturday, Khalifa urged “freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal”.
She later clarified that this comment was not an endorsement of violence, and that she intended to highlight the need for Palestinian freedom.
“I just want to make it clear that this statement in no way shape or form is enticing [the] spread of violence, I specifically said freedom fighters because that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day,” Khalifa wrote.
However, in an email sent to its users on Tuesday (10 October), Playboy announced that the company had severed ties with Khalifa over her comments, some of which they describe as “disgusting and reprehensible”.
(Getty Images)
“We are writing today to let you know of our decision to terminate Playboy’s relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia’s Playboy channel on our creator platform,” the company wrote in an email, seen by Daily Mail.
The statement continued: “Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women, and children.
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“At Playboy, we encourage free expression and constructive political debate, but we have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech. We expect Mia to understand her words and actions have consequences.”
A link that formerly led to Khalifa’s creator profile now leads to an error page.
The Independent has reached out to representatives of Mia Khalifa and Playboy for comment.
Khalifa, 30, also faced admonishment from the owner of an Amsterdam-based drug product company. In a tweet, Josh Shapiro told her to “consider [herself] fired” while responding to her post asking for horizontal videos from Palestine.
“I’d say supporting Palestine has lost me business opportunities, but I’m more angry at myself for not checking whether or not I was entering into business with Zionists,” she retorted. “My bad.”
She followed up her Twitter/X post by claiming that it was the only press she’d give the company, ending with: “It’s FREE PALESTINE until Palestine is FREE.”
Several public figures have been sharing their reactions to the violent horrors that have occurred since Saturday, including Madonna, Natalie Portman and Jamie Lee Curtis.