Spanish superstar Javier Bardem, who is winning rave reviews for his latest film role, slammed the “toxic masculinity” of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday which he said was responsible for their wars.
Bardem plays an overbearing film director with an explosive temper in The Beloved by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday to widespread praise from critics.
In an expletive-laden outburst at a press conference on Sunday, Bardem said part of his character’s flaws were due to “toxic masculinity” which led to men killing their ex-wives and girlfriends — and starting wars.
“That problem also goes to Mr Trump and Mr Putin and Mr Netanyahu,” Bardem, 57, said, referring to the US, Russian and Israeli leaders.
Bardem has been one of most outspoken film stars against Israel’s war on Gaza since 2023. The Israeli campaign has devastated the Palestinian territory and killed more than 72,000 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. A “genocide” is “still being committed”, Bardem said.
“It’s a fact. You can try to justify it, explain it, but it’s a fact. If you justify it with your silence or your support, you are pro-genocide.”
Speaking on Saturday, Bardem said he was “getting more work than ever” despite his public campaigning against Israel’s war on Gaza, something he attributed to “the narrative changing” around the conflict.
Originally published in Dawn , May 18th, 2026
