(JTA) — Film producer Jason Blum was booed and had to be physically removed from the stage of the Israel Film Festival in Los Angeles after he accused President Donald Trump of fomenting rising anti-Semitism in the United States.
Blum, who is Jewish, was onstage at the Steve Tisch Cinema Center, Saban Theater on Tuesday evening being honored with the festival’s Achievement in Film & Television Award.
“The good thing about this country is that you get to like Trump, but I don’t have to and I don’t like him,” Blum said, according to Deadline. “We have a president who calls the press the enemy of the people. Thanks to our president, anti-Semitism is on the rise.”
Blum, who has produced films such as “Get Out” and “Whiplash,” was booed and heckled during his speech. Some members of the audience walked out, while others yelled “get off the stage” and “we like Donald,” Deadline reported.
As Blum continued speaking, a festival organizer came on stage and called for security as an audience member appeared to pull down Blum, leading to others jumping on the stage to assist him. After insisting that “you are going to have to drag me off the stage,” Blum exited.
The Israeli Film Festival is sponsored by the Adelson Foundation, the charitable organization established by Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a major giver to Republican candidates ahead of Tuesday’s elections as well as to Trump in his run for the presidency. The Hollywood Reporter is a co-sponsor of the event.
Israeli director Avi Nesher, who received the Cinematic Achievement Award, also addressed the current political situation.
“Americans [also] have their issues with some of the political leadership in this country,” Nesher said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “I, too, am an American citizen, and I, too, am worried about the state of affairs in this country. My parents are immigrants — twice, once to Israel and once to this country. I have been observing with horror the hate mongering which has become the order of the day for the American administration, and the Israeli one. That’s why we make movies. To entertain, but also to think.”
Festival director and founder Meir Fenigstein told The Hollywood Reporter that “this is the first time we have ever experienced anything like this, and I am in total shock, but I understand that this is a very tense day in America with the elections. This is not the place for politics and I remain apolitical.”
Blum later tweeted the speech he had planned to give, in which he said, in part: “Those election results are pouring in as I speak. And so much is on the line. The past two years have been hard for all of us who cherish the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of this country. The sense of community that has bound us together for generations is all but gone.”
