KUALA LUMPUR: The on-going Blockout 2024 social media campaign, which has seen American celebrities boycotted on social media for not being vocal about Palestine, has spread to Malaysia for better or worse.
While it has raised awareness of the plight of the long-suffering Palestinians, Blockout has also resulted in "cyber-bullying" where local artistes have been subjected to insults and even death threats.
Persatuan Seniman Malaysia (Seniman) president Zed Zaidi, director Shahrulezad Mohameddin and rock queen Ella Aminuddin are deeply concerned over the "unhealthy" developments that have arisen with Blockout.
In an interview with Berita Harian yesterday, Zed urged netizens to be rational and avoid judging artistes who were "listed" in Blockout for not "showing enough support for Palestine".
"I have no problems if people want to boycott me, that is their personal choice. But I hope netizens do not jump to conclusions and pass judgements on artistes without doing research on them first," said Zed.
"Netizens should refrain from bringing up old photos and videos of these artistes, which showed that they became spokesmen for allegedly pro-Israel brands.
"They might not have known about the stands of these companies from the West," said Zed.
"Furthermore they needed to survive in the industry by becoming brand ambassadors.
"And as ambassadors they had to respect the brand, else they could see their contracts terminated, face lawsuits and suffer a big loss of income."
Zed urged all artistes under Blockout who received death threats to make police reports and notify the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
Shahrulezad said that netizens should not "threaten and abuse" artistes on social media, and instead boycott them in a polite, organised and disciplined manner.
"What is important is to raise awareness of Palestine, not to condemn and abuse celebrities," he said.
"Our entertainment industry is not as big as that of the United States, and our artistes do not get acting offers that frequently.
"Consequently they have to become product spokesmen, without realising that some of these products are owned by pro-Israel companies."
Shahrulezad added that these celebrities could not openly support Palestine, but they did so quietly by donating to humanitarian organisations that helped the Palestinians.
Ella urged netizens to avoid boycotting artistes unless there was solid proof that they were not supportive of the Palestinian cause.
"We must always conduct our own investigations first. It could be that artistes who became spokesmen for American brands are bound by their contracts and cannot openly support Palestine," she said.
"If an artiste is quite silent about Palestine, it does not necessarily mean that he or she is oblivious to the Palestinian people's suffering.
"He or she might be supporting them quietly."
Blockout began at the Met Gala 2024 fashion show in New York, the United States on May 6, as a protest against artistes who kept silent in the face of Israel's aggression towards the Palestinians.
The TikTok campaign by social media influencer ladyfromtheoutside targeted actress Kim Kardashian and singers BlackPink, Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez among others, and caused them to lose many social media followers.
Malaysian celebrities who were listed by Blockout included Mira Filzah, Daiyan Trisha, Neelofa, Scha Alyahya, Awal Ashaari, Anna Jobling, Meerqeen, Datin Intan Najuwa, Sheila Rusly, Eyka Farhana, Nadhir Nasar, Mierul Aiman, Amir Ahnaf, Nabila Razali, Janna Nick and Ruhainies Zainul Ilyas.