Iranian Actress to Boycott Oscars Over Trump's Immigration Stance
Taraneh Alidoosti will skip Oscars over Trump's talk of banning immigrants.
— -- Iranian actress Taraneh Alidoosti, the star of best foreign language film nominee "The Salesman," has announced that she will be boycotting the Oscars over President Trump's expected restrictions on immigration to the United States.
"Trump's visa ban for Iranians is racist," Alidoosti tweeted earlier today. "Whether this will include a cultural event or not, I won't attend the #AcademyAwards 2017 in protest."
Trump could reportedly move to suspend some immigration to the United States from Iran, as well as Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Syria.
When asked about a “Muslim ban” this week, Trump said, ‘No, it's not the Muslim ban. But it's countries that have tremendous terror.”
"And it's countries that people are going to come in and cause us tremendous problems,” Trump told ABC News Wednesday in his first one-on-one television interview as president. “Our country has enough problems without allowing people to come in who, in many cases or in some cases, are looking to do tremendous destruction.”
His actions could mean suspending visa and refugee programs, including those for people from war-torn Syria.
Alidoosti, 33, stars in "The Salesman," which was nominated earlier this week for a best foreign language film Oscar. The film's director, Asghar Farhadi, previously won an Oscar in the same category for his 2012 film "A Separation."
Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep, in her Golden Globes speech earlier this month, called on Hollywood to do its part in "safeguarding the truth."