Last Friday, John Cusack, an American film actor known for his roles in movies like "Say Anything," "Being John Malkovich," "2012," and "Bullets Over Broadway," sparked controversy when he published a contentious tweet on the social media platform X calling for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons. According to his statement, "Iran will surely rush to get a nuclear weapon – and they should get one – it's the only way to deter US and Israel from bombing every country in Middle East."
Iran will surely rush to get a nuclear weapon- and they should get one - it's the only way to deter US and Israel from bombing every country in Middle East
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 28, 2025
Cusack's tweet, published just days after American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, joined a series of harsh statements he has made in recent years. Cusack, who has become a prominent figure in American political discourse, is particularly identified with sharp criticism of Israel and the US.
His X account is loaded with anti-Israeli tweets and those opposing President Donald Trump, where he has frequently accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of killing innocent children. In other posts, he claimed that "a blind alliance with Israel is an alliance with a regime of genocide." He harshly condemned Israel's policy in Lebanon when he declared that "Israel is bombing Lebanon – apparently they don't have a day where they don't bomb someone illegally, while the US bows down."
Additional tweets on his page included statements such as "If seeing starving people and children shredded by anti tank guns and babies gunned down by snipers – if THAT doesn't force you to confront the regime commiting the genocide nothing will." In another post, he claimed that "the US is funding genocide in Gaza. Anyone who justifies this is complicit in the crime." About Israel, he wrote that "Israel is looking for new ways to starve Gaza residents. This isn't self-defense, this is systematic cruelty."
If seeing starving people and children shredded by anti tank guns and babies gunned down by snipers - if THAT doesn't force you to confront the regime commiting the genocide nothing will -
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 24, 2025
Cusack has not spared the Democratic Party in the US from his criticism either. In one of his tweets, he wrote that "the fact that so many in the Democratic Party don't speak and don't act daily to stop this genocide should haunt them for the rest of their lives." Additionally, he has repeatedly referred to what he claims is "the West's guilt in a 'collective crime' against Palestinians, particularly around cutting funding to UNRWA."
Cusack's views have frequently drawn condemnation, with the organization StopAntisemitism.org, which fights antisemitism online, publishing posts throughout 2024 that harshly criticized his statements and crowned him "antisemite of the week," particularly emphasizing a series of posts in which Cusack denied Hamas crimes on October 7 and spread anti-Israeli conspiracy theories. Cusack, for his part, rejected the accusations and called them "complete lies," but following widespread public criticism, he deleted some of the posts he had published on the subject.
This time, reactions to his tweets were not long in coming. Many followers, primarily from the radical left and the anti-war activism world, expressed support, with one writing "Finally someone from Hollywood is speaking truth about Israel" and another adding "The world needs to wake up to what Israel is doing," while some even praised him for his "courage" and "standing with the oppressed." On the other hand, many users attacked him harshly, with one user writing, "You're spreading antisemitic lies and inciting violence." Others called for him to be fired from his acting agencies and to cancel his participation in future projects, while some wrote, "You don't understand anything about the reality in the Middle East, you're just spreading hate."
The controversy surrounding Cusack's positions is not new. In 2019, he shared an antisemitic meme showing a giant hand with a Star of David crushing people and added the phrase "follow the money." After extensive public criticism, he deleted the tweet and apologized, but claimed it was a technical error.
In recent years, he has signed international petitions against Israel, expressed support for artists boycotting the country, and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. Since October 7, 2023, Cusack has even increased the pace of distributing posts and tweets in which he denied or belittled evidence of Hamas crimes and claimed that Hamas is "an Israeli creation designed to weaken the Palestinian Authority."
