Cate Blanchett has been applauded on social media after she seemingly sent a message of solidarity with the Palestinian cause on the red carpet at Cannes.
The Australian actor – who is at the annual film festival to promote her upcoming film, Rumours – attended the premiere of Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice on Monday local time, wearing a form-fitting Jean Paul Gaultier gown designed by Haider Ackermann.
Featuring a black front and light pink back (which photographed white), with green lining inside, when Blanchett posed on the red carpet – revealing the inverted colour panel – the black, white, green and red colour scheme bore a stark resemblance to the Palestinian flag.
Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to infer it was yet another show of support for Gaza from the Oscar winner, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“When I grow up I want to become Cate Blanchett, and have the subtlety to think the carpet is already red, so I can just wear a black & white dress with green lining to make such a strong point,” Dr Zahira Jaser wrote on X.
“This is the voice of conscience. Conscience is the most elegant dress that suits humanity,” another user on the platform declared.
Last October, Blanchett was one of 55 prominent artists and advocates in the entertainment industry to sign an open letter to US President Joe Biden, urging for a call for a ceasefire in the conflict.
“We urge your administration, and all world leaders, to honour all the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages,” the letter, also signed by the likes of Joaquin Phoenix and Kristen Stewart, read.
While speaking at the European Parliament Plenary Session in November in her capacity as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations’ Refugee Agency, Blanchett again reiterated the call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
“I am not Syrian. I am not Ukrainian. I am not Yemeni. I am not Afghani. I am not from South Sudan. I am not from Israel or Palestine. I am not a politician. I am not even a pundit. But I am a witness,” she said.
“And having witnessed the human cost of war, violence and persecution visiting refugees from across the global, I cannot look away.
“Over the past few weeks, we have all, in horror, been watching the continuing violence in Israel and Gaza. The conflict has claimed – and is still claiming – thousands of innocent lives.”
Blanchett went on to “urge each and every one of you here today to stand firm in challenging the dangerous myth pedalled far too widely and stoking far too much fear and hostility that each and every refugee is headed here to Europe”.
According to the latest update from Gaza’s Health Ministry, more than 35,647 Palestinians – mostly civilians – have been killed, and 79,652 more have been injured, by Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas since October 7.