I guess that’s where Playboy draws the line.
The pictures and videos coming out of the Middle East are absolutely heartbreaking, after Hamas launched a surprise terror attack on Israel over the weekend.
Around 900 people have already been killed in Israel, including at least 11 Americans, and nearly 700 have been killed since Israel launched a counterattack on the pro-Palestinian group in Gaza.
Tensions are clearly running high, with the threat of an escalating war in the Middle East and the heartbreaking images flooding social media.
But over the weekend, adult film star Mia Khalifa drew criticism for her statements supporting the Hamas attack on Israel.
The Lebanese-American adult actress took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express her support for Palestine, cheering on Hamas amid their attacks:
“If you can look at the situation in Palestine and not be on the side of Palestinians, then you are on the wrong side of apartheid and history will show that in time.”
Khalifa was also criticized for a tweet telling the Palestinians to turn their phones horizontally to get better video of the carnage:
“Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal”
The adult film star spent much of the weekend arguing online with those who support Israel, with many of her critics calling for her sponsors and partners to stop doing business with Khalifa.
And today, Playboy did just that.
The adult website and former magazine founded by Hugh Hefner sent a letter to its creators today announcing that it had booted Mia Khalifa from its platform over her pro-Hamas comments:
“Dear Creator Community,
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.
Over the past few days, Mia has made disgusting and reprehensible comments celebrating Hamas’ attacks on Israel and the murder of innocent men, women and children. 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 that her words and actions have consequences. We included the letter we shared with Mia below.
Thank you,
The Playboy Team”
In their letter to Mia, Playboy reiterated that her comments crossed the line from free speech and supported the murder of innocent citizens in Israel.
“Mia,
Playboy has always been a champion of free speech. We have fought in the courts for the rights of all people to speak free from any governmental interference. For seventy years we have highlighted different viewpoints in the pages of our magazine, on our websites, in the symposia that we’ve hosted, and from the thought-leaders, creators and artists who we’ve platformed on our various forms of media.
We also have no place in our company nor on our platforms for speech that is hateful and dehumanizing. Your recent statements celebrating Hamas’ attacks on innocent men, women and children in Israel, including rape, mutilation, killing and torture, are disgusting and reprehensible. Consequently, we are hereby permanently terminating you from the Playboy creator platform and ending all other business dealings we may have with you.
We want to be very clear: we respect your right to free speech. We also expect that you understand that how you use your speech has consequences. Today, we are calling you out on your hate-mongering and severing all ties with you. We will also be letting our creator community know of our decision.
With a heavy heart for the victims,
Playboy”
Sure enough, Khalifa’s page on the Playboy website has been wiped clean and is no longer available.
Man, you know you’ve messed up when even Playboy thinks you crossed a line.
