Spirit Awards Ceremony Disrupted By Sole Pro-Palestinian Protester With A Loudspeaker

It wasn’t a group of Pro-Palestinian protesters that was causing noise throughout the Santa Monica Beach tent at the Independent Spirit Awards — rather one.

A loud chant was heard piercing throughout the ceremony “Free! Free! Palestine! Long Live Palestine! Ceasefire now!” early on during the show to the point where comedian Jim Gaffigan, who was presenting the award for Best Ensemble Cast in a New Scripted Series to Jury Duty, remarked “That’s my Dad!”

Outside the tent, the disruption was coming from one young male who was standing on the outer part of the Spirits barricade — and he wasn’t chanting, but held a loudspeaker with a repeated protest recording.

A group of security guards and showrunners for the Spirits tried to reason with the protestor, who was quite calm and tranquil, to no success. Another group of Spirits security guards stood by and watched, eating Dominio’s Pizza.

Three police officers, one in fully armed gear, looked on.

“There’s nothing we can do — he’s not doing anything criminal,” the officer told Deadline.