Julianna Margulies Could Have Said Nothing

By Chris Revelle | News | November 30, 2023 |

By Chris Revelle | News | November 30, 2023 |

Whenever a celebrity or public figure steps in it because they spoke aloud some wildly wrong things in a public forum, I’m reminded of some very wise words you’ve maybe heard before: saying nothing is always an option. It is very easy to simply not say bigoted things, and yet it happens all the time. Who’s turn is it to show their bigoted selves instead of simply not saying crazy bullshit? Why, Julianna Margulies of course, famously of ER, The Good Wife, and most recently The Morning Show on which she plays a gay news anchor named Laura Peterson.

The Back Room hosted by Andy Ostroy (who was married to Waitress director/writer Adrienne Shelly) bills itself as “a humorous, honest take on politics and pop culture featuring notable guest interviews, a shit-ton of righteous indignation, and rip-roaring repartee…” and they appear to have been podcasting since 2022. The guests appear to be mainly political pundits, current and former legislators, and journalists with a smattering of actors thrown in here and there. Margulies’ episode was published on November 20th of this year. After a run-down of her credits, the episode info-card reads, “After a brief chat about this Season’s The Morning Show, Julianna and I have a brutally honest in-depth conversation about the barbaric October 7 attack on Israel by terrorist organization Hamas; the ensuing war; the outbreak of rabid antisemitism; the mis/disinformation being spread; and the frustration and anger felt by Jews that too few are standing up for us here and abroad.”

I am in no position to hold forth here or anywhere else what marginalized groups should think, feel, say, or do, and that is not a terribly difficult concept to grasp. If it is not your experience, you cannot speak on it, simple as that. I dearly wish Margulies had considered that before going off on what can only be described as an appalling display of bigotry. As loathe as any of us are to link to X, this post has a clip if you don’t wish to listen to the entire episode:

listen to julianna margulies go on an absolutely unhinged rant against black people for supporting palestine, claiming muslims would play soccer ball with the decapitated heads of black queer people if they could, and saying she knows better as someone who played a lesbian on tv. https://t.co/IhoKvLdU85 pic.twitter.com/OJZAzxDrA2

— سماح (@samah_fadil) November 30, 2023

To make these claims — that Muslims would play soccer with the heads of Black queer folx — that she knows better as someone who played a lesbian on TV, that she is in any position to lecture what Black people should do as if they are one monolith, is repugnant. It’s been a more recent tactic usually used by conservative politicians to imply that queer people should hate Muslims for hypothetical violence queer people could experience, and it’s as tired as it is abhorrent. Margulies engaged in racist and queerphobic rhetoric and, on top of that, attempted to link being pro-queer rights to Islamophobic xenophobia. It’s disgusting, and it makes an already bleak situation all the worse. I cannot, in good faith, suggest that you listen to the whole episode because I found it to be horribly uncomfortable and unpleasant hearing this much anti-Black and anti-Muslim bigotry be platformed and reaffirmed. She really could have said nothing. There would be horrible thoughts inside her head, but at least it would not be inflicted on the rest of us.