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Director Says Bassem Youssef’s Role Cut From ‘Superman Legacy’ Before Pro-Palestine Comments

The comedian questioned the timing of his removal from the film, noting it came after he spoke out in support of Palestine.

Comedian Bassem Youssef said his viral pro-Palestine comments got his character cut from the upcoming Superman Legacy movie, but sources said that Youssef was never formally offered the role.

Youssef said he’d lost the role over an interview he’d done in November on Piers Morgan: Uncensored where he strongly criticized Israel. “They said Israel is the only military force in the world that warns civilians before bombing them,” he said. “How f-cking cute! That is so nice of them because with this logic, if Russian troops started warning Ukrainians before bombing their houses, we’re cool with Putin, right?”

According to Youssef, he learned shortly after that his role in the upcoming film had been cut. “Because of that, I was cast in the movie, Superman, and then they told me, ‘We changed the script,’ after this Piers Morgan interview. I want to assume good faith. I want to know, I want to believe that this is true,” he told Salon. He added that he understood why some executives would have a negative response to his comments, and said “when I attack Israel, I attack its policy, I’m not attacking Jewish people.”

Sources told Deadline, however, that Youssef had never been formally offered the role, because the actor's strike was still ongoing when the character was cut in September. James Gunn, who is directing Superman Legacy, confirmed this by sharing an IGN article making a similar claim on X. “This is accurate,” Gunn wrote.