An Iranian actress has said she is going to boycott the Oscars in protest at Donald Trump’s ‘racist’ visa proposals.
Taraneh Alidoosti stars in The Salesman, which is nominated for best foreign language film.
The actress elaborated on her position in a statement to the New York Times.
“I decided not to go even if I could, because it hurts me deeply to see ordinary people of my country being rejected for what might be their legal right to have access to their children abroad or to their school classes as students,” Alidoosti told the paper.
The Oscars will take place on 26 February.
The Salesman tells the story of a couple whose relationship begins to disintegrate during their performance of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
Alidootsi called Trump’s visa ban, which includes the country of Iran, racist on Twitter.
I’m sure the United States has also benefited many times from Iranian immigrants and people who have worked there and served that country,” she added. “So it’s not acceptable to me to respect a state that does not respect the people of my country.”
President Trump has signalled that he would sign an executive order enforcing a short-term visa ban from foreign countries known to be hotbeds of Islamic terrorism.
If the President’s order is enacted, it would affect potential immigrants and visitors from seven Muslim countries — Iran, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Libya, and Sudan.
