Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Debra Messing Cheers Alyssa Milano’s Decision To Boycott Women’s March

Actress Debra Messing stands in solidarity with fellow actress and activist Alyssa Milano, who said she won’t speak at the next Women’s March if leaders Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour continue to support Louis Farrakhan.

Messing retweeted on Thursday an article from Advocate, which detailed Milano’s decision not to participate in the march.

On a recent episode of her show “Will & Grace,” Messing’s character Grace came forward with her own #MeToo story, admitting to her father that his friend sexually assaulted her when she was 15, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Milano, one of the most public faces of the #MeToo movement, told Advocate that she would distance herself from the march if its leaders didn’t publicly denounce Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam leader who has a long history of anti-Semitic commentary.

Mallory is a regular at Farrakhan’s events, one of which he said, “The powerful Jews are my enemy.” Sarsour has been a vocal supporter of Mallory, writing on Facebook that her critics are “trashing a strong black woman and holding her accountable for the words of a man.”

Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.

In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.

At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.

Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.