Amy Schumer Is Getting Canceled

Amy Schumer is facing relentless backlash across social media over an Instagram post she shared regarding the Tuesday evening strike on a Gaza Strip hospital thought to have killed hundreds.

The comedian spoke out in an Instagram Story post, in which she accused a number of media outlets in the West of "blaming Israel" for the hospital explosion "without fact checking." She also called for editors at specified outlets to be fired.

Schumer's comments came after there was an explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry said some 500 people—many of them displaced under an Israeli evacuation order—were killed in the explosion.

Palestinian militants and officials said the cause was an Israeli airstrike, while Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed an errant rocket fired from Gaza by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.

President Joe Biden, who arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning, said at a Tel Aviv press conference with Netanyahu that he was "deeply saddened and outraged by the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday.

"Based on what I've seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you. But there's a lot of people out there not sure, so we have to overcome a lot of things."

Palestinian militant group Hamas, Biden said, has "committed evil atrocities that make ISIS look somewhat rational." He added: "We have to also bear in mind that Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people and has brought them only suffering."

Hours before Biden's arrival in Israel, Schumer—who has shared several posts on social media regarding the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict—accused certain media outlets of putting "terrorist lies on their homepages."

"An Islamic Jihad missile killed hundreds of innocent Palestinians in a hospital in Gaza. Many Western outlets published a propaganda LIE, blaming Israel without fact checking," Schumer wrote in the post. "FACTS only reached the headlines an hour later."

Calling for action against decision makers at specified outlets, she continued: "Fire the @bbcnews @nyt @skynews @cnn editors who put terrorist lies on their homepages. Lies that stoke anti-Jewish hatred worldwide. Hold media prejudice accountable."

Schumer's post has sparked widespread criticism on X, formerly Twitter, where a number of people disputed her statement.

"I know people have hated Amy Schumer for ridiculous reasons in the past, but this is the first legitimate reason I've seen to completely hate Amy Schumer," wrote one detractor. "Such an insane person."

"Bruh, @amyschumer," another began. "You really wanna talk about 'Propaganda?' Serious? You're the one EATING IT. [#FreePalestine] ain't bout Jew hatred, but about the Palestinians' right to live... the media twisted the s*** out of it and made it 'terrorist lies' and you still bring up propaganda."

"It's nice of Amy Schumer to give me a moral reason to hate her beyond just thinking she's cringe," commented another X user.

"I've got one word for @amyschumer," said another, "canceled."

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Schumer via email for comment.

'The World Has Turned Upside Down'

Despite reports now suggesting that Israel was likely not responsible for the Gaza hospital explosion, the vitriolic posts aimed at Schumer over her comments have continued to flood in on the social media platform. Hamas has maintained that Israel is responsible and has said it will release footage supporting the claim.

Schumer, who has shared a number of posts expressing sympathy for the loss of innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives, has not publicly addressed the backlash she has faced. However, the comments have been turned off on her most recent Instagram posts.

Evan Nierman, CEO of global PR firm Red Banyan, told Newsweek that there is little to no rational explanation for the backlash Schumer's post has ignited.

"The fact that she is being attacked is outrageous," he said. "Since when has delivering factual information and encouraging people to be careful to verify before buying into falsehood become an offense? The world has turned upside down.

"To deliver factual information should not result in being [labeled] as an Islamophobe. It's an inaccurate, unfair characterization of her. And she should be applauded for insisting on facts, and cautioning against buying into lies."

Nierman, author of The Cancel Culture Curse, added that Schumer's critics are ultimately "a group of nameless, faceless online keyboard crusaders, who love to attack anyone and everyone—but especially celebrities and people who have higher profile and more impactful lives than their own, to get into the conversation to make themselves relevant. And it's ad hominem attacks.

"So whether it's Amy Schumer or another celebrity, this is what social media has devolved into. A bloodsport of criticism and venom."

'Moral Courage'

Schumer, said Nierman, should be commended for "demonstrating a degree of moral courage by weighing in [on the conflict]. And so if people want to be offended by her post, that's their problem and not hers."

"Amy Schumer is not a Middle East scholar or expert. But the people attacking her certainly aren't either. That's worth remembering here," Nierman said. "She's been canceled for insisting that people pay attention to the truth. That's the world that we're living in."

Militants fighting for Hamas stormed into Israel on October 7, killing more than 1,200 people, according to figures from the Israeli military. Hamas said the attack was retribution for worsening conditions for Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

Israel has carried out subsequent attacks against Hamas, launching "Operation Swords of Iron." It has been pummeling the sealed-off and densely populated Gaza Strip with airstrikes and has also stopped entry of food, fuel and medicine into Gaza, worsening the humanitarian conditions in the tiny territory of 2.3 million people.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed organization that the U.S. considers a terrorist group alongside Hamas, on October 8 launched a barrage of mortar shells into Israel. The IDF fired artillery into Lebanon.

Schumer responded to the attacks by sharing posts on Instagram from plastic surgeon Dr. Sheila Nazarian and Mandana Dayani, former president of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's philanthropic organization Archewell.

"Never in my years as an activist have I seen other activists, upon seeing footage of little girls being killed and dragged through streets, immediately find the burning need to go on the internet and justify their deaths. 'Oh, here [are] all the reasons that girl was burned alive!'" Dayani's post read.

"For completely clarity, the only reason you do this is because you have been made to believe that the killing of Jews can even be justified. Because every civilization has taught that the life of a Jew is less valuable than your own.

"It's the Hitler playbook. Your antisemitism is not unconscious. It is so deeply rooted in your bones and you are so comfortable with it, you are not even able to consider its impact on your friends."

Nazarian's post, shared by Schumer, read: "If you are silent when terrorists murder Israelis, stay silent when Israel defends itself."

As of Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded, according to The Associated Press, while Israel says more than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, have been taken hostage.

Despite concerns of a power vacuum in Gaza—which has been governed by Hamas since 2006—due to the removal of the Palestinian organization by force, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and a member of Netanyahu's ruling party told Newsweek last week it has "no intention to hold Gaza" permanently.