Actor Nicola Coughlan explained why she’s been wearing a pin while promoting Season 3 of “Bridgerton” to show support for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war that has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians.
“It’s very important for me because I feel like I’m a very privileged person,” she told USA Today. “I’m doing my dream job and I’m getting to travel the world, but then I’m hyper-aware of what’s happening in Rafah at the moment.”
She said her father was in the Irish army and was part of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation, which aims to maintain peace in the Middle East.
The pin is from the organisation Artists4Ceasefire. Earlier this year, more than 400 people in the entertainment industry, including Coughlan, signed on to a letter to President Joe Biden demanding a cease-fire.
“I feel very passionately about it,” Coughlan continued. “I’m Irish also, so it’s sort of a different perspective. And I just feel, if I have this global platform, which I do at the minute, I think if I can hopefully raise funds for aid organisations — I have a fundraiser on my Instagram right now.”
Coughlan has worn the pin during other stops in her Bridgerton press tour, like on Good Morning America. Last year, shortly after the war began, Coughlan wrote on Instagram that no one should “make you believe calling for a ceasefire to stop the murder of children is a controversial position, it isn’t, it’s the only humane one.”
Last month, she told Teen Vogue that she was warned that if she continued to support Palestine, she might lose work.
“You do get told, ‘You won’t get work, you won’t do this,‘” she said. “But I also think, deep down, if you know that you’re coming from a place of ‘I don’t want any innocent people to suffer,’ then I’m not worried about people’s reactions.”