Why stars were wearing red pins at the Oscars 2024

• You may have spotted stars including Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo wearing red pins at the 2024 Oscars.
• The pins were worn in support of Artists4Ceasefire, which is calling for a ceasfire in Gaza.
• Mark Ruffalo and Rami Youssef also spoke out against the ongoing conflict on the Oscars' red carpet.

Stars including Billie Eilish and Mark Ruffalo wore red pins to the 2024 Oscars to show their support for a cease-fire in Gaza.

The pin features the logo of Artists4Ceasefire — a hand with a black heart in the middle — which is calling on the US government to facilitate a cease-fire in the Gaza-Israel conflict. Some stars also wore the pin at this year's Grammys, the Screen Actor Guild Awards, and the Directors Guild of America Awards.

The latest flare-up of the decadeslong Israel-Palestine conflict began on 7 October, 2023, when members of the Hamas militant group that governs Gaza stormed into Southern Israel in a series of terror attacks. It killed around 1,200 people and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel retaliated with an extensive bombing campaign, killing more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.

Artist4Ceasefire was created in October 2023, and stars including Bradley Cooper, Dua Lipa, Florence Pugh, and Kirsten Dunst signed a letter requesting Congress and world leaders to "facilitate a ceasefire without delay — an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages."

Ruffalo, Mahershala Ali, Ava DuVernay, Eugene Lee Yang, Caroline Polachek, and Ramy Youssef have also signed the letter and wore the pin to this year's Oscars ceremony.

Eilish, her brother Finneas, and directors Misan Harriman and Kaouther Ben Hania also wore the red pin to the event. However, they are not listed on the Artist4Ceasefire website, which may mean they haven't signed the cease-fire letter.

"Anatomy of a Fall" stars Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud also wore pins to the Oscars, but theirs featured the Palestinian flag.

Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, and Jonathan Glazer spoke out against the Gaza-Israel conflict at the Oscars.

The Israel-Hamas war was repeatedly mentioned at Hollywood's biggest event, which cost $56.9 million to put on, according to WalletHub's 2024 report.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Oscars ceremony was delayed by six minutes as A-list stars struggled to get through a cease-fire protest, which was attended by thousands, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Roughly 350 protesters also blocked the road at the Sunset Boulevard and Highland Avenue intersection, meaning Oscar attendees' cars and limousines could not reach Dolby Theatre, the outlet reported.

Variety reported that some attendees got out of their vehicles and walked from Sunset Boulevard to the Dolby Theatre, and the Academy's staff sent golf carts to transport others.

Ruffalo, one of the stars late to the Oscars, supported the protest when he spoke to reporters on the red carpet, a video clip published on social media showed.

"The Palestinian protest shut down the Oscars tonight! Humanity wins!" he said.

Meanwhile, his "Poor Things" costar, Youssef, told Variety on the red carpet that the Artists4Ceasefire group was calling for "peace and justice, lasting justice, for the people of Palestine."

"I think it's just a universal message of 'let's stop killing kids,'" he said.

Later in the night, "Zone of Interest," a film about a German family living in peace next to a concentration camp, won the Best International Feature Film Oscar.

Jonathan Glazer, the director, used his acceptance speech to criticize Israel.