Hollywood’s loudest political voices are back in the headlines—this time, not for standing with freedom, but for defending one of the longest-running dictatorships in the world. Actors Mark Ruffalo and Susan Sarandon have attached their names to “Let Cuba Live,” a campaign accusing President Donald Trump of committing “economic warfare” against Cuba’s communist regime. The letter even claims Trump’s policy could cause “mass starvation.”
It’s an odd stance for people who live in comfort and enjoy the privileges of a free country. After more than 67 years of absolute power, the Castro regime has silenced dissent, imprisoned journalists, and driven countless Cubans to risk their lives at sea to escape. Yet the Hollywood version of the story blames not the oppressors, but the United States for daring to call out a brutal system that has already starved its own people.
The signatories to this campaign read like a who’s who of political activism in entertainment. Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, Harold and Kumar actor and former Obama official Kal Penn, director Boots Riley, and New York State Senator Julia Salazar all joined the initiative. It’s also backed by far-left groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America, Codepink, and the People’s Forum, an organization well known for its open sympathy toward communist governments, including Cuba and China. These aren’t defenders of human rights—they’re defenders of ideology.
President Trump’s January executive order declared the Castro regime a national security threat and cited its long record of sponsoring terrorism, persecuting political opponents, and spreading communist influence across Latin America. The president made his position clear: the United States “has zero tolerance for the depredations of the communist Cuban regime.” His order also restricts oil trade with the island, a move that has cut off key supply lines from countries like Venezuela and Mexico. China and Russia, longtime allies of Havana, have stayed noticeably quiet.
Hollywood’s response? The “Let Cuba Live” letter calls the measure “a cynical and crude ploy” meant to “distract public opinion” from domestic issues. It claims Cuba poses “no threat” to the United States and describes the executive order as “a form of terrorism.” But it takes a willful blindness to equate the architects of repression with victims. The blackouts, food shortages, and hospital crises the letter warns about have existed in Cuba for decades—long before Trump took office—because of the system the Castros built and Hollywood now seems eager to defend.
The letter also praises former President Barack Obama’s “Cuban thaw,” describing it as “an important effort to normalize relations.” Yet that policy gave the dictatorship cash, trade, and global legitimacy while offering ordinary Cubans nothing resembling political freedom. The Castro regime pocketed the benefits and kept its iron rule intact. Is that really the kind of “normal” American actors want to celebrate?
Perhaps the most concerning part is how quickly Havana seized on the Hollywood message. Cuba’s Foreign Ministry proudly posted the celebrity-endorsed letter on its website and called its authors “influential public figures.” The Castro government’s embassy in Washington even promoted the campaign on social media. When propaganda from a communist state and a Hollywood cause share the same slogan, it’s fair to ask: who’s using whom?
For Cuban families still desperate to flee hunger and censorship, it must feel like a cruel joke to see wealthy American entertainers speaking up—not for them, but for the regime that keeps them down. In Hollywood’s version of heroism, the stars side not with freedom, but with those who crush it.
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