Helen Mirren Addresses Video Of Her Being Branded A 'Zionist B***h' In The Street

Dame Helen Mirren has spoken for the first time about a viral video depicting her being met with verbal abuse in the street due to her past support of Israel.

Last month, footage was widely shared online depicting the Oscar winner being branded an “an evil Zionist bitch” by an unseen man.

In the clip, he also told her husband, the Oscar-winning filmmaker Taylor Hackford: “You as well, fuck you and all.”

Earlier this week, the British performer accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Taormina Film Festival, where she said of the video in question that she had been “attacked by mistake by a man who was maybe a little over passionate or maybe mentally not quite stable”.

The Metropolitan Police previously said of the viral clip: “We are aware of a video circulating online, showing a man and a woman being subjected to antisemitic verbal abuse in Tower Hill. It is believed that the incident took place at the end of last year.”

Clarifying her stance on Israel at the event, Dame Helen said (via Variety): “Evil forces are rising everywhere, even in a country like Israel. How could you possibly repeat the actions of what was done to you as people to other people?”

She continued: “I was born at the end of the Second World War, I grew up in Europe post Second World War and the realisation in my parents’ generation of what had happened in the Holocaust was so profound, so important.

“Therefore, the creation of Israel was a very important moment, although maybe it was done in completely the wrong way, in the wrong place, I don’t know. But something had to happen after the horror.””

Dame Helen said in 2023: “I believe in Israel, in the existence of Israel, and I believe Israel has to go forward into the future, for the rest of eternity. I believe in Israel because of the Holocaust.”

She has since spoken out in support of Israel numerous times, having twice signed open letters in support of its inclusion at the Eurovision Song Contest, despite controversy over its involvement amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

In 2023, she also played the fourth prime minister of Israel, Golda Meir, in a biopic.

At the Taormina Film Festival, Dame Helen observed: “When you play Catherine the Great, why was Catherine called the Great? Because she took land. Why was Alexander the Great? Because he took land. He invaded, he killed people, he destroyed cities and he took land. Why is he remembered in history? Because with incredible brutality and unbelievable cruelty, he took land.

“So it devastates me. That’s what I mean. The evil is always lurking, waiting to take over, even in a place like Israel.

“I played Golda Meir and worked in a country that was the idealistic Israel, and I always thought it was a country that would never do wrong, but of course they were doing wrong, even then.”