Jennifer Garner Stirs Controversy After Sharing Video With ‘Palestine’ Supporter at Soccer Game

Actress and entrepreneur Jennifer Garner has left some fans disappointed after she shared a video of her performing with a pro-Palestinian activist at a recent soccer game in Los Angeles.

Garner is co-founder of the Angel City Football Club, a National Women’s Soccer League professional team based in Los Angeles. At a recent Angel City home game in BMO Stadium, Garner attended to show support for her team. The “Family Switch” star shared a video on Instagram from the game showing her beating a drum as fans in the stadium chanted “Angel City.”

The drum Garner played in the video was draped in what appeared to be a pink-colored keffiyeh. The actress was also beating the instrument with a woman who had a shawl around her neck that featured the colors of the Palestinian flag and the word “Palestine.” Their performance on the drums was displayed on the Jumbotron inside BMO Stadium.

“So, I’m a drummer now,” Garner wrote in the video’s caption, before thanking Canadian Indian YouTuber Lilly Singh “for being a badass” and the “always incredible” La Fortaleza, the name given to the Angel City FC supporters’ section in the venue. The Once Upon a Farm co-founder made no reference to the keffiyeh lookalike or pro-Palestinian sentiments expressed in the video, but she did label the original audio for the clip as “celebrities4palestine.”

However, Instagram users quickly took to the comments section on Garner’s post to share their thoughts on the matter. Some told Garner her interaction with the “Palestine” supporter was “deeply disappointing” and sad, and accused her of being complacent with the rest of the world in “diminishing what happened on October 7” during the deadly Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.

“You were a role model of mine growing up. But that era has ended,” wrote one upset Instagram user. Another told Garner: “I’m sad to see your support a terrorist group —  look what happened in LA yesterday. They brought destruction and violence to a peaceful neighborhood. Look what happened October 7. They don’t promote peace, they promote hate.”

Anti-Israel activists also took to the comments section, applauding Garner and sharing the emoji of the Palestinian flag with the message “Free Palestine.” One Instagram user wrote, “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free from Zionists Israhell.”

In January, Garner’s daughter Violet Affleck — her eldest child with ex-husband Ben Affleck — was photographed walking in Beverly Hills with her mother while wearing a black crewneck with a watermelon printed on it. Watermelons have become an expression of solidarity with Palestinians amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The clothing company behind the shirt, Wear The Peace, said on its website that all proceeds from the sale of the crewneck will be donated to the nonprofit Pious Projects, which provides humanitarian help to locals in the Gaza Strip.