Mia Khalifa has been reportedly released from her podcasting contract with Playboy after sharing her stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On Saturday (7 October), the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its largest-ever attack on Israel. As of Tuesday (10 October), 900 people have been killed in Israel as a result of the attacks. Al Jazeera reports that 830 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Khalifa, a media personality and former adult content actor, had been a content creator for Playboy, which launched its OnlyFans-esque digital creator platform in March. Since the latest outbreak of violence, Khalifa has been sharing social media content about the conflict in support of Palestine, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967.
In one post on Twitter/X from Saturday, Khalifa urged “freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal”.
She later clarified that this comment was not an endorsement of violence, and that she intended to highlight the need for Palestinian freedom.
“I just want to make it clear that this statement in no way shape or form is enticing [the] spread of violence, I specifically said freedom fighters because that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day,” Khalifa wrote.
However, in an email sent to its users on Tuesday (10 October), Playboy announced that the company had severed ties with Khalifa over her comments, some of which they describe as “disgusting and reprehensible”.
“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,” the company wrote in an email.
The statement continued: “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 her words and actions have consequences.”
