Just from watching footage of the red carpet at Oscars 2024, you might not realize that pro-Palestine protests were underway just outside the star-studded affair—blocking traffic ahead of security checkpoints near the Dolby Theatre. Even beyond that point of entry, many nominees and attendees at the 96th Academy Awards called attention to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war by wearing red Artists for Cease-Fire pins.

Billie Eilish, Mark Ronson, Ava DuVernay, Mark Ruffalo, Riz Ahmed, Mahershala Ali, and Ramy Youssef were among the A-listers who wore the accessory, which is adorned with an image of a hand surrounding a small black heart, on the carpet. Boygenius members Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker wore the same pins at the Grammy Awards last month, as did actors Tony Shaloub and Ebon Moss-Bachrach at the recent SAG Awards. “We’re calling for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza,” Youssef, a presenter and star of best-picture-nominated film Poor Things, told Variety from the red carpet. “We’re calling for peace and justice—lasting justice—for the people of Palestine.”

According to The New York Times, the organization Artists4Ceasefire said in a statement that the red lapel pins signify a call for increased humanitarian aid and the release of “all hostages.” In October, a group of 55 notable artists and members of the entertainment industry signed an open letter urging Joe Biden to demand a cease-fire in Gaza and Israel, a document that earned support from stars including Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Quinta Brunson, and Kristen Stewart.

“The pin symbolizes collective support for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, the release of all of the hostages, and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza,” the group said in the statement obtained by the Times. “Compassion must prevail.” 

While accepting the Oscar for best international feature, The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer used his time to address the conflict in Gaza. When making his Holocaust-centered movie, he said, “all our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present.… Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza—all the victims face dehumanization.” He cited as a model Alexandra, a character in the film, before dedicating the movie “to her memory and her resistance.”

Mstyslav Chernov, the director behind best-documentary-feature winner 20 Days in Mariupol, also used his acceptance speech as an opportunity for advocacy. “This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history,” he said of his film, which traces the first 20 days of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022. “I am honored, but probably I will be the first director onstage who will say I wish I had never made this film,” the filmmaker explained. 

“I wish to be able to exchange this [for] Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities. I wish to give all the recognition to Russia not killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history. I cannot change the past. But we all together, you, among you, [are] some of the most talented people in the world. We can make sure that the history record is set straight, and that the truth will prevail, and that the people of Mariupol and those who have given their lives may never be forgotten. Because cinema forms memories, and memories form history. So thank you all and thanks to Ukraine.”

Best actor winner Cillian Murphy took a more subdued political tone in his own acceptance speech for Oppenheimer, which depicts the creation of the atomic bomb. “We’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world—I would really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere,” he said onstage.

Before the night’s final awards were announced, host Jimmy Kimmel read a Truth Social post from former president Donald Trump, reciting, “Has there ever been a worse host than Jimmy Kimmel at the Oscars? His opening was that of a less-than-average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be. Get rid of Kimmel and perhaps replace him with another washed-up, but cheap, ABC ‘talent,’ George Slopanopoulos. He would make everybody on stage look bigger, stronger, and more glamorous…blah, blah, blah…Make America Great Again.” In turn, Kimmel quipped, “Thank you, President Trump, thank you for watching. I’m surprised you’re still, uh—isn’t it past your jail time?” to cheers from the audience.

Members of the Anatomy of a Fall team also wore Palestine flag buttons at the Oscars, which have long been a platform for political moments, including in 2022 when celebrities wore blue ribbons in support for Ukraine. “Too many dead people since the 7th of October,” actor Swann Arlaud told VF’s David Canfield. “It has to stop. It’s about humanity. Cease-fire.”

Youssef, who also signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter, said in an interview with the Times: “There’s a part of you that hopes it doesn’t have to get to pins. There’s a part of us that hoped we would already be at a cease-fire, and we’re not.”