Asghar Farhadi may be barred from attending Oscars

Members of Hollywood took to social media on Saturday to speak out in response of Trump's executive order banning refugees from entering the US. The order, signed by Trump on Friday, suspends refugees from entering the United States for four months, and indefinitely suspends Syrian refugees.

There is a question whether Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (who won Best Film in a Foreign Language in 2012 for “A Separation”) will be allowed to enter the US to attend the Oscars on February 26, for his film “The Salesman”, which is nominated in the foreign language category. The film's star, Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti tweeted on Thursday that she plans on boycotting the awards ceremony in protest of Trump.

Celebs including Kumail Nanjiani, Ava DuVernay and JK Rowling took to twitter to express disdain towards Trump's actions. Michael Moore tweeted of a Muslim protest occurring in New York while Seth Rogen tweeted, “LA Protest on #Muslimban TODAY 1-5 at Federal Immigration Office, 300 N. Los Angeles St.” America Ferrera, who recently led a Women's March against Trump, also voiced support for another protest taking place at LAX Saturday evening.

Trump, who signed the order on Holocaust Remembrance Day, said that he is taking 'new vetting measures to keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America.'

The “Protection Of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States”, cancels the US Refugee Admissions programme for 120 days. According to the State Department, a 90-day ban affects Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — all Muslim-majority nations.

Refugees will still be admitted by the US on a case-by-case basis and the government will still consider requests from those who cite religious persecution. This past year, the US accepted 85,995 refugees with 12,587 being from Syria. Barack Obama set the limit this year at 110,000.

Celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Patton Oswalt, Nick Offerman, Emily Rossum, Rob Reiner, Issa Rae, Kal Penn, Adam McKay, Ewan McGregor, Richard Dreyfuss, Charli XCX, Chris Evans, Lucy Hale and Alec Baldwin voiced their opinions on Twitter, which were mostly a combination of disgust, concerns and apologies to the Muslim communities. 

“I hope that the world knows that our president does not represent all Americans. Most of our country is horrified by this Immigration ban,” said actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, reflecting what many of his colleagues in the industry were saying. 

Indian-origin US actor-chef Kal Penn meanwhile, started a fundraising campaign for Syrian refugees, and titled it “Donating to Syrian refugees in the name of the dude who said I don't belong in America”, which rapidly raised over $1,60,000 as of yesterday afternoon. 

RnB star Rihanna was much more blunt with her tweet: “Disgusted! The news is devastating! America is being ruined right before our eyes! What an immoral pig you have to be to implement such BS!!”

Source: THR