‘I felt betrayed by Hollywood’ - Debra Messing on antisemitism, Israel and finding strength after Oct 7

Debra Messing, 57, best known for her iconic role as Grace Adler on the American sitcom Will & Grace, is speaking out against antisemitism and condemning the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacres that took place just over two years ago.

The Hollywood actress says she’s “devastated by Hollywood’s response to the massacre” and by what she describes as a troubling lack of support for Israel and Jewish communities around the world.

The past two years have tested Messing’s spirit. Rooted deeply in her Jewish faith and identity, she’s endured the loss of friendships and faith in the community that once embraced her.

In an interview with Ynet News, Messing spoke candidly about her experience on Oct. 7, 2023, the lack of support she and other Jews have received from colleagues in Hollywood, as well as her experiences growing up in a strongly Zionist household and being one of the only three Jewish children in her school.

“I was at home, I walked into the kitchen, switched on the TV and saw images I didn’t quite understand,” Messing recalled, “My brain just could not process what my eyes were seeing. Frankly, I don’t have many clear memories of Oct. 7, aside from sitting in the kitchen and calling Jewish friends to make sure they saw what was happening and that I wasn’t hallucinating. I still don’t remember the days afterward – I was in complete shock, not functioning in what was real time.”

She mentioned that during the first 24 hours, people in Hollywood were “responding the right way” but “then it changed, and it changed fast.”

Messing shared with Ynet that she was “devastated” and “broken.”

“Hollywood was built by Jews who escaped the Holocaust and weren’t allowed to work in any other profession, so they invented show business. I was certain that because it is broadly liberal and inclusive, Hollywood would come out strongly against the massacre. When I saw the responses I thought the world flipped inside‑out. I felt physically nauseated,” she said.

When asked if anyone had tried to reach out to her she said, “No one. No one reached out. Their silence broke my heart. Fortunately there is a WhatsApp group that now numbers 7,800 people – at first we were quite few: Jewish creators, publicists, managers, writers and directors who felt we must defend Israel, its right to exist, and chiefly must fight against all the propaganda.”

In her effort to mobilize support for the hostages in Gaza, she and fellow Hollywood workers reached out to then President Joe Biden asking him to help bring the hostages home. As the support letter circled around Hollywood, people refused to sign it. Messing says they didn’t mention the conflict but simply asked “him (Biden) to bring back the hostages from dozens of countries.”

Messing admitted she “felt betrayed by Hollywood” because she “was so deeply rooted in that community.” She went on to say, I’m processing this – very slowly.”

Raised in a Zionist home with strong ties to Israel, Messing learned early on that being Jewish could seemingly be a disadvantage, even in the most liberal areas of America. “I was one of three Jewish children in all of my school. As a child I dealt with very intense antisemitism,” she recalled.

Messing shared a memory from grade school in Rhode Island. “My first memory is from second grade when we were lining up for gym class and one of the boys said to me, ‘Go to the end of the line, kike.’ I didn’t know what it meant, but the teacher did – and sent him to the principal’s office. All the kids glared at me saying, ‘What did you say to get him in trouble?’ At that moment I learned something I would not fully understand until decades later about the instinct to hide immediately.”

When asked by Ynet how her parents responded, Messing replied, “They sat me down and explained we are proud Jews who stand with our people and with the State of Israel. Later, at age nine or ten, my grandfather arrived to visit, and the next morning we found a swastika spray‑painted on his car. So from a very early age, it was clear to me that I was different and that people didn’t like us. My entire childhood, I heard about the Holocaust and my duty to fulfill the lives of the ones we lost. So even though outside my home there was no representation of joyful Jewish life, my parents created a happy Jewish home. I remained very aware of that my whole life.”

When Messing was asked if she ever felt the backlash of abuse from social media wasn’t worth the pain, she replied, “No. People have suffered far more than I have these past two years. I felt I had to do what I could. I produced the film 'October 8' about the rise of antisemitism in the United States, and I’ve been screening it and speaking about it around the country.”

Even though Messing grew up in a Zionist household with family members who often traveled to Israel, her first visit came only two months after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. She reflected on how she had always wanted to go, but the timing never seemed right. Her parents would tell her it wasn’t safe to travel there, then her Hollywood career took off, and later motherhood kept her busy – so the trip to Israel never materialized.

However, in explaining the timing of her first trip to Israel she said, “But this time I had to come – to witness, to film hostage families, to see the destruction in the kibbutzim, to speak with the wounded. I entered Gaza with the IDF, visited tunnels, hospitals. I filmed everything and posted it all on Instagram – which, of course, unleashed a tsunami of hate. But I felt stronger than ever.”

In response to a question about whether her perception of Hollywood has changed – even as a place of work – Messing said, “Yes, I see Hollywood as a potentially hostile environment for myself and for other Jews who believe in Israel’s right to exist. But I continue to work, and it reminds me of the power of storytelling. More than ever, I want to tell stories about Jewish life, because people are only interested in Jewish stories when they’re about dead Jews.”

Messing said she desires to break away from only relating Jews to the Holocaust and said she wants “to help create comedies about family, music, humor, love, dysfunction – all the things that make us part of humanity. Maybe it will even reach some of the people working so hard to dehumanize us.”

After earning a master’s degree in performing arts from NYU, Messing got her first major role in the mid-1990s sitcom Ned and Stacey. However, her career took a transformative turn when she was offered a script for Will and Grace, and then accepted the role.

Messing is the recipient of an Emmy award for her work as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

She is slated to visit Israel again this week.