Hollywood Stars Cuffed Outside UN

Brian Folkerts and Ricardo Santos at a street protest with flags and a large crowd — Photo: Vernerie Yann / Shutterstock

New York City police handcuffed Oscar winner Susan Sarandon and “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder outside the United Nations Thursday as they protested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the General Assembly.

Story Snapshot

Susan Sarandon, 79, and Hannah Einbinder, 31, were among protesters detained on First Avenue near UN headquarters on September 24.
The demonstration was tied directly to Netanyahu’s scheduled speech to the UN General Assembly that day.
Jewish Voice for Peace organized the protest, with banners reading “Stop Arming Israel” and “End the Genocide.”
Reported crowd sizes and detention counts vary across outlets, ranging from roughly 30 to about 100 people.
Other named detainees included Chelsea Manning, Linda Sarsour, and several New York elected officials.

What Happened Outside United Nations Headquarters

Protesters blocked First Avenue near the United Nations building ahead of Netanyahu’s speech, according to footage from the French news agency AFP. That same footage shows New York Police Department (NYPD) officers cuffing Sarandon, best known for her role in “Thelma & Louise.” Photos published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) show both Sarandon and Einbinder in handcuffs at the scene.

The protest happened as Netanyahu delivered his address to the General Assembly, according to CBC reporting. Demonstrators who refused to clear the street were taken into custody by officers on scene. This was not a small standoff between a handful of activists and police. It was a coordinated, large-scale act of civil disobedience timed to a specific world leader’s arrival.

A Crowd With A Cause And A Name

Jewish Voice for Peace organized the demonstration, giving the event a clear sponsor rather than a spontaneous gathering. AFP reported that banners at the scene read “Stop Arming Israel” and “End the Genocide,” language that ties the protest to the ongoing war in Gaza and to broader anti-Netanyahu activism among segments of the American left.

Sarandon and Einbinder were far from the only notable names swept up. The New Republic named Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic congressional nominee, along with New York City Council member Chi Ossé, whistleblower Chelsea Manning, and activist Linda Sarsour among those detained. The Guardian’s coverage added actress Debra Winger and writer Glennon Doyle to the list.

Counting The Crowd Proves Tricky

Exactly how many people were taken into custody depends on which outlet you read. The South China Morning Post put the figure near 100, CBC described “more than two dozen” detained, and a Reuters-based account cited “at least 30” arrests. That spread likely reflects the difference between total protesters present and those specifically taken into custody.

Whether Sarandon and Einbinder faced formal arrest or a shorter detention remains a matter of imprecise language across coverage. Variety noted it was “not yet confirmed if Einbinder and Sarandon were arrested or simply detained,” even as several other outlets used the word “arrested” outright. That distinction matters legally, even if the video evidence of handcuffing is not in dispute.

Einbinder Speaks Out After Release

Einbinder did not stay quiet once she was free. She called Netanyahu the “butcher of Gaza” in a fiery statement following her release, according to reporting that captured her remarks after the incident. Her comments framed the arrest not as an inconvenience but as a badge of political conviction, consistent with the protest’s stated aim of pressuring U.S. policy toward Israel.

Actresses Hannah Einbinder and Susan Sarandon were among dozens arrested during a pro-Palestinian protest near the United Nations as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly.

The rally, led by Jewish Voice for Peace, blocked a street near U.N.… pic.twitter.com/NdujuScAQu

— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 25, 2026

Mass demonstrations tied to high-profile diplomatic visits routinely produce this same pattern: a flood of contemporaneous video, a handful of celebrity names driving headlines, and inconsistent tallies of exactly how many people were cuffed. None of that undercuts the core, visible fact here. Officers detained a well-known Hollywood actress and a rising television star on a public street outside the United Nations, in full view of cameras, on the day a foreign head of government addressed the world body.

For conservative observers, the episode is a reminder that celebrity activism around Israel and Gaza continues to draw significant media attention, regardless of the actual legal outcome for those detained. A handcuffing photo travels far faster than a court docket ever will, and that gap between spectacle and process is likely to keep shaping how these protests get remembered.