Florence Pugh: 'I Was Never Scared' of Backing Palestine

Florence Pugh says she has likely lost hundreds of thousands of social media followers in recent years because of her outspoken support for Palestine. The Oscar nominee made the disclosure in a new interview with Vanity Fair.

Pugh has routinely shared links to humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Last September, she made headlines with a surprise appearance at the Together for Palestine fundraising event in London, where she told the crowd: "Silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality. It is complicity."

Asked by Vanity Fair about being ahead of the curve in Hollywood on the issue, Pugh did not mince words. "I don't know why it took so long for people to start talking and for people to actually feel sympathy," she said. "But no, I was never scared of it. And I think weirdly, because so many people actively weren't [speaking up], that made me even more confused — and kind of probably even more in the right to talk about it."

Per Vanity Fair, Pugh said nobody on her team ever advised her to keep quiet on the subject. She also expressed gratitude to those who helped her attend Together for Palestine despite the concert conflicting with production on "Avengers: Doomsday," the upcoming installment in the Marvel franchise in which she stars.

The actress said the crisis remains unresolved and ever-present for her. "It's still happening, though," she told the magazine. "Babies are still dying. Mothers are still in pain. It's really horrible to be watching such pain when so much of our lives just seem to be moving forward."

Pugh turned her critique directly on social media. "I think that's what I've found so difficult about social media as well: How can I say I'm having a really good time when literally one scroll up, I'm looking at a baby that's motherless and fatherless?" she said.

The Together for Palestine event she attended raised more than $2 million for humanitarian organizations. The bill featured Gorillaz, King Krule, Brian Eno, PinkPantheress, Cat Burns, Bastille, James Blake and Sampha, among others.

At the event, Pugh closed her remarks with a direct challenge to the audience. "Empathy should not be this hard and it should have never been this hard. I'm just going to leave that with you," she said. "Enjoy the rest of your evening, pressure on the governments and well done for being here."

The full profile appears on Vanity Fair's website. With "Avengers: Doomsday" still in production and the situation in Gaza ongoing, Pugh's account makes clear she has no intention of dialing back her advocacy — whatever it costs her in followers.