‘COMPLICIT’

Oscar Winner Called Out for Starring in ‘Dystopian’ Ad Campaign

Gwyneth Paltrow lent her face to a campaign that is being called “shameful” and “evil.”

Gwyneth Paltrow is facing severe backlash for starring in an ad campaign for a luxury apartment complex located in Herzliya, Israel.

Fans and critics alike are slamming the Oscar-winning actress for lending her face to the campaign.

In the short clip released Wednesday, Paltrow is seen waking up in an opulent bedroom with a skyline view. As she rolls out of bed, she makes herself a coffee in a state-of-the-art kitchen, then heads for a run in the park. “Who decided mornings should be so early? Even my coffee needs a coffee,” she drawls.

“There’s a reason the world’s most iconic buildings are by a park,” Paltrow says to the camera as she finishes her run. “51 Park,” she tells a driver. He asks, “New York?” to which she replies, “Herzliya, Israel.”

51 Park, the property in question, is a 51-story structure made by luxury developer Aviv Melisron. The building is located in Herzliya, an Israeli coastal city north of Tel Aviv. Units reportedly cost up to $10 million, according to Novara.

Gabi Attal, the founder of the Israeli creative agency behind the ad, announced the collaboration with Paltrow on LinkedIn, writing, “To bring this architectural masterpiece to the Israeli audience, we needed a figure who effortlessly embodies international elegance, a premium lifestyle, and uncompromising quality. Enter Academy Award, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Gwyneth Paltrow.”

The campaign was filmed in New York City, which was utilized to promote “the future of luxury living in Herzliya’s Israel,” said Attal.

The 53-year-old actress has drawn fierce criticism across social media for promoting the development, with people calling the decision “dystopian” and Paltrow “evil” amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

In September 2025, the United Nations Commission said that Israel is responsible for committing genocide against Palestinians. After a two-year investigation, the Commission declared that Israel committed “four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.” The report further stated that “the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians must be understood as an internationally enabled crime.”

“While children are buried under rubble in Gaza, while Lebanese families flee Israeli airstrikes, while Gazans starve under total blockade, she is fronting an ad campaign for ’51 Park,’ a luxury apartment complex in Herzliya, Israel,” wrote one user on X of the ad.

Another called her involvement in the campaign “deeply and unspeakably sinister.”

Others compared Paltrow’s cheerful exterior and the offer of luxury amid wartime to the premise of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning Holocaust film, The Zone of Interest, in which a family lives in a home next to a concentration camp.

Alana Hadid, sister to Bella and Gigi Hadid, also publicly slammed Paltrow on Instagram. “Dude the level of unhinged capitalism is f---ing astounding,” she wrote in the comments below the video. “Brutal. Girl. Have you opened a newspaper or watch the news. This is not even tone deaf it’s actually complicit.”

One user on X also equated Paltrow with Ivanka Trump, who is currently facing backlash for trying to develop a luxury property on otherwise untouched land off the coast of Albania. The development, reportedly a pet project of Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, has been the subject of widespread protests across the country.

Paltrow’s campaign for the Israeli developer comes just days after a viral interview in which she discussed her political leanings. In a June 2 episode of her Goop Podcast, the Marty Supreme actress said that her husband, Brad Falchuk, is so progressive that he thinks she’s a Republican in comparison.

“I’m pretty centrist, and my husband thinks I’m a Republican—which, I’m not a Republican. I don’t feel anything right now, to be totally honest with you,” she said in conversation with Trae Stephens, the co-founder of military-tech company Anduril. “I feel like I’m completely an independent,” Paltrow declared.

STUCK IN THE MIDDLE

Oscar Winner Struggles to Defend Her ‘Centrist’ Politics

Wiktoria Gucia

Her earlier remarks, coupled with the release of the ad, have the internet in a furor. “You truly have to feel nothing to promote genocide,” a user wrote on Instagram.

“The ability to ignore human suffering remains her most consistent luxury,” wrote another. “Nothing says ‘wellness’ quite like beachfront denial.”

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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