Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren was verbally harassed on a London street by a pro-Palestinian activist who called her an “evil Zionist b----" while she was walking with her husband, film director Taylor Hackford.
Video circulating on social media shows the confrontation taking place Wednesday evening near Tower Hill in London. Mirren, 80, initially appeared calm and asked the man if he was okay before he launched into an angry tirade over her longstanding support for Israel.
The Telegraph reports that an activist accused Mirren of supporting Israel “because of the Holocaust" and shouted insults at both her and Hackford. Hackford responded by repeatedly telling the man to leave them alone.
Mirren has publicly defended Israel for years and has opposed cultural boycotts against the country. In 2023, while promoting her film Golda, in which she portrayed former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, Mirren said she believed in “the existence of Israel" and that the country should endure “for the rest of eternity."
She also recently signed a public letter supporting Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest amid calls for a boycott over the war in Gaza.
Mirren first visited Israel in 1967 shortly after the Six-Day War and volunteered on Kibbutz HaOn near the Sea of Galilee. Although she has consistently defended Israel’s right to exist, she has also criticized some policies of Israeli governments in past interviews.
Representatives for Mirren had not publicly commented on the incident as of Thursday afternoon.