{"id":275242,"date":"2026-09-02T16:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/275242\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T16:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T16:50:09","slug":"maureen-lipman-brands-actor-cowardly-after-he-quits-play-over-her-israel-views","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/275242\/","title":{"rendered":"Maureen Lipman brands actor \u2018cowardly\u2019 after he quits play over her Israel views"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Lipman, 80, told The Times: \u201cI would like to reassure him that I will not be arriving with a star of David on my forehead, nor am I trying to argue him out of his point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has to wake up and smell the grass. I have worked with actors for 60 years who often don\u2019t share my politics. I don\u2019t ask them, and they don\u2019t ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lipman said McCarthy was entitled to decide he did not want to work with her, but added: \u201cBut if he won\u2019t meet with me, then he\u2019s a coward.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if he doesn\u2019t grow up, then he\u2019s going to limit himself to working with just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/news\/world\/jewish-celebrities-open-letter-avengers-mark-ruffalo-antisemitism-agjmivb5\" data-tracking-context=\"In article link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Ruffalo<\/a> and Javier Bardem for the rest of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The dispute arose over a single performance of Right Before I Go, which uses letters and poems about suicide to raise awareness and funds for people struggling with suicidal thoughts. The production transferred to London following a run at the Edinburgh Fringe.<\/p>\n<p>Lipman also questioned McCarthy\u2019s decision because he had attended the opening night of her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thejc.com\/opinion\/i-still-feel-like-paula-radcliffe-at-the-wobbly-end-of-a-marathon-xoqexl6i\" data-tracking-context=\"In article link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent production of Allegra<\/a> only weeks earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was pictured at the after-party and even posted glowing praise for the play and my performance on Instagram,\u201d she wrote in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2026\/09\/02\/national-treasure-bullied-actors-israel-maureen-lipman\/\" data-tracking-context=\"In article link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Telegraph<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo I would love to know what has changed in the last six weeks. Has he become radicalised, and by whom?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lipman said she would rather discuss their differences face to face, even extending an invitation to McCarthy to meet her for hummus and mint tea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe can swap certainties about the world,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In her Telegraph article, she rejected any suggestion that she should moderate her views because of their effect on her career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will not be bullied, nor will I allow anybody to tell me what to think,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIf that affects their ability to work with me, as opposed to convert me to their point of view, then they are lily-livered.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She acknowledged that the theatre world is largely politically progressive but said refusing to work with people who disagreed with her would undermine the principles of the profession.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we spit on art, we are being fascistic,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Lipman also admitted to once refusing to appear alongside Margaret Thatcher earlier in her career, a decision which she now thinks about and regrets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was cowardly, stupid and ignorant. I could have sat with her and we could have talked about what we had in common as working women,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did not have to scurry out and leave, but I did. Even now, more than 40 years on, I think about it a lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I confidently predict that Mr McCarthy will one day be appalled about his decision to pull out of Right Before I Go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lipman, 80, told The Times: \u201cI would like to reassure him that I will not be arriving with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[75037,37,74991,24351],"class_list":["post-275242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-dame-maureen-lipman","tag-israel","tag-maureen-lipman","tag-theatre"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117202480216137271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275242\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}