FILE - Actor Hunter Schafer poses at the photocall of the film "Cuckoo" (Berlinale Special section) at the Berlinale, Friday, Feb. 16, 2023. The 74th Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 15 - 25, 2024. Schafer was among dozens of war protesters arrested at NBC's headquarters in Manhattan during President Joe Biden’s appearance on “Late Night with Seth Myers” earlier this week, organizers confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (Christoph Gollnow/dpa via AP, File)
Republished February 28, 2024 - 3:41 PM
Original Publication Date February 28, 2024 - 9:56 AM
NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Hunter Schafer was among dozens of war protesters arrested at NBC's headquarters in Manhattan during President Joe Biden’s appearance on “Late Night with Seth Myers” earlier this week, organizers confirmed Wednesday.
The 25-year-old “Euphoria” star was part of a group of more than 100 demonstrators who packed the lobby at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Monday afternoon to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, said the group Jewish Voice for Peace.
Schafer and other protesters wore black shirts reading, “Ceasefire Now” and “Not in Our Name" while chanting “Let Gaza Live” and other slogans as Biden's motorcade pulled into the area, according to videos and photos of the event.
Schafer, who like many protesters also wore a facemask, is seen at one point seated on the floor as others hold up a banner behind her reading, “Jews to Biden: Stop Arming Genocide.”
Representatives for Schafer didn’t respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday. Protest organizers said she and others are due in court sometime next month.
“We commend her commitment to Palestinian freedom and to a future of justice for everyone,” Sonya Meyerson-Knox, of Jewish Voice for Peace, said in an emailed statement.
The New York Police Department on Wednesday said 30 people were taken into custody and issued summonses for trespassing following the hour-and-a-half-long demonstration.
Biden, meanwhile, said Monday he was optimistic a ceasefire would be reached in the coming days.
“I hope by the end of the weekend,” he told reporters after taping the late show interview. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”
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This story has been corrected to reflect that the name of the group that organized the protest is Jewish Voice for Peace.
News from © The Associated Press, 2024