Julianna Margulies is not returning to The Morning Show for the Apple TV+’s fourth season, less than seven months after she was involved in a controversy over remarks she made on a podcast about aspects of the Israel-Hamas conflict that didn’t sit well with her.
Sources confirmed to Variety on Monday that the Emmy-winning actress, 58, would not be appearing on season four of the series, noting that ‘the decision was made before the controversy’ that stemmed from her November appearance on The Back Room with Andy Ostroy.
Margulies passed on ‘a one-episode appearance’ for the show’s fourth season, an insider told Variety.
Margulies – who plays the role of Laura Peterson, a journalist and the ex-girlfriend of Reese Witherspoon’s character Bradley Jackson, on the series – ‘has been asked about her interest in returning for a potential fifth season,’ an insider told the outlet.
The Spring Valley, New York native, known for her stints on series such as The Good Wife, ER and The Sopranos, made headlines last fall in her podcast appearance with Ostroy.
Julianna Margulies, 58, is not returning to The Morning Show for the Apple TV+’s fourth season,. Pictured last week in NYC
Margulies plays the role of Laura Peterson, a journalist and the ex-girlfriend of Reese Witherspoon ‘s character Bradley Jackson, on the series
Margulies in the appearance raised eyebrows with her remarks on the support for Palestine from the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
She said that Black people have ‘been brainwashed to hate Jews’ in reaction to an October incident at New York City’s Columbia University.
According to the New York Post, a group called Lion Lez promoted a Black Lesbian Film event stipulating that ‘Zionists aren’t invited.’
Margulies referenced her own religion as well as her role as Peterson on the streaming series in her response to the controversy.
‘As someone who plays a lesbian journalist on The Morning Show,’ Margulies said, ‘I am more offended by it as a lesbian than I am as a Jew.
‘Because I wanna say to them: You f***ing idiots. You don’t exist. You’re even lower than the Jews. A, you’re Black, and B, you’re gay. And you’re turning your back against the people who support you? Because Jews, they rally around everybody.’
Ostroy remarked that in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas at an Israeli music festival, there were more passionate reactions about the use of ‘the wrong pronouns on college campuses.’
Margulies said in response, ‘Oh my god, forget it – it’s those kids who are spewing this anti-Semitic hate that have no idea if they stepped foot in an Islamic country.
‘These people who want us to call them they/them, or whatever they want us to call them – which I have respectfully really made a point of doing, like, be whoever you want to be – it’s those people that will be the first people beheaded and their heads played with like a soccer ball – like a soccer ball on the field.’
Margulies was pictured opposite Jennifer Aniston on the set of the streaming series
Margulies in December of 2023 in a statement she was sorry for the comments and ‘horrified’ that they ‘offended the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities,’ which she has ‘love and respect’ for. Pictured in LA in October of 2023
She added: ‘And that’s who they’re supporting? Terrorists who don’t want women to have their rights? LGBTQ people get executed.’
Margulies in December of 2023 in a statement she was sorry for the comments and ‘horrified’ that they ‘offended the Black and LGBTQIA+ communities,’ which she has ‘love and respect’ for.
Margulies added, ‘I want to be 100 percent clear: Racism, homophobia, sexism, or any prejudice against anyone’s personal beliefs or identity are abhorrent to me, full stop.
‘Throughout my career I have worked tirelessly to combat hate of all kind, end antisemitism, speak out against terrorist groups like Hamas, and forge a united front against discrimination. I did not intend for my words to sow further division, for which I am sincerely apologetic.’
