October 14th 2023.
Firass Dirani, best known for his role in Underbelly, has reportedly been dropped from the upcoming Australian sitcom, The Office Australia. This follows his expression of support for Hamas amid the ongoing conflict between the terrorist group and Israel.
The conflict has already claimed more than 1,700 lives on both sides, with over 187,500 people displaced from the Gaza Strip. In response, Israeli forces have vowed to turn the region into "rubble" by launching retaliatory strikes in over 200 locations. Hamas, in turn, has urged people to remain in the region and defy the military order.
Following the attack last weekend, Dirani posted a video on social media expressing support of the terrorist group. In the video, he said that Hamas was being “propagated against as if they're a terrorist militant group” and compared the situation in Ukraine with the current events in Gaza. He argued that the deaths of Israeli women and children were “Palestinians resisting the oppressors”.
The production company behind The Office Australia, Amazon Prime Video, has since told The Daily Telegraph that Dirani will not be appearing in the program. An insider from the company said: “We won’t be making a comment. Firass was announced as being cast in The Office Australia but he didn’t make it to production. There were ‘differences’ before production started. Production has wrapped up and he isn’t in the show. This often happens. People don’t get cast after pre-production.”
The sitcom, based on Ricky Gervais’ UK version, will now follow a female “modern-day David Brent”, played by Australian comedian and actor Felicity Ward. The eight-part series will also star Edith Poor, Steen Raskopoulos, Shari Sebbens, Josh Thomson, Jonny Brugh, Pallavi Sharda, Susan Ling Young, Raj Labade and Lucy Schmit.
The news of Dirani's dismissal from the show comes shortly after a Jewish BBC reporter resigned after the corporation refused to call Hamas ‘terrorists’ amid the ongoing conflict. Noah Abrahams, 22, explained that the “unjustified” decision to not use the correct terminology prompted his decision to leave. He said that words have the power to fuel hate and that there is already enough fuel on that fire.
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