Anti-Genocide or Anti-Semitism? CAA Cuts Ties With Saira Rao Over Israel Comments

Saira Rao and Regina Jackson — two women who do anti-white-supremacy work through Denver-based nonprofits — are no longer represented by the Creative Artists Agency after Rao made comments on social media about the Israel-Hamas war and its impact on Palestinians who are getting caught in the crossfire.

“Our theater agent at CAA has dropped me and Regina Jackson because she is offended by our words in support of Palestinian life,” Rao posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on November 13. “Our words denouncing genocide. This is McCarthyism on steroids and ethnic cleansing. We are disgusted but not shocked.”

Since the October 7 attacks by the Hamas terrorist group on Israel — and ensuing Israel Defense Forces strikes on the Gaza strip — Rao’s social media feed has been filled with posts and reposts about the conflict, information about the death tolls and arguments for Palestinian liberation.

She tells Westword that being vocal like this aligns with everything she and Jackson have been doing. “It's really not rocket science that we would be on the right side of history here, which is being pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide of anybody,” Rao says. “It would seem that the vast majority of white Americans are pro-genocide, because they've been either openly supporting this or refusing to do the obvious, which is speaking out against genocide.”

Rao and Jackson founded Race2Dinner, an organization that aims to help white women confront their own racism through intimate meals; Rao is Indian-American and Jackson is Black. The duo wrote a New York Times best-selling book called “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better” together and created a movie called “Deconstructing Karen” with a message along those same lines.

Rao ran against U.S. Representative Diana DeGette in the 2018 primary. She also helped spearhead Here4TheKids, an organization that works to highlight children’s issues like gun control and climate change, starting with a sit-in at the Colorado Capitol in June this year.

Ally Shuster, who works for CAA, was the pair’s dramatic agent. Rao says they’ve been working with a theater producer to transform the concept of Race2Dinner into a scripted, off-Broadway production, but they didn’t hear from Shuster when they expected to last week — a sign that something was up.

“A couple of days ago, I get a call from our literary agent, who was like, '[Shuster] no longer is going to represent you both,'” Rao recalls. “She is offended by your posts.”

The CAA tells Westword it was a mutual decision between Rao and Jackson’s literary agent for the parties to part ways, disputing Rao’s word choice of being “dropped.” It also disputed her description of the reason: It wasn’t because of support for Palestinian life, but rather because of messages that could be considered anti-Semitic, according to the CAA.

Speaking through a spokesperson, the agency says many people it works with support Palestine, but Rao’s words went too far. The CAA cites four specific posts that it says crossed the line into “anti-Semitism and hate speech.”

“Zionists are starting to panic that more and more of the world sees them for the bloodthirsty genocidal ghouls that they are,” Rao wrote on Threads in one instance. Another example the CAA cites: “Can you imagine being so obsessed with land and power and money that you murder newborns to obtain this STUFF,” which Rao posted on X.

“Whiteness is a death cult and am so grateful to not be a part of it," she added.

Another post read, “Call me a terrorist. Call me antisemitic. Call me whatever you want. I am not committing genocide. You are. I am not condoning genocide. You are.”

Rao tells Westword she knows she is on the right side of this conflict, and she stands behind her words.

“What is funny about CAA and all these people is they think they're doing something clever here, but guess what? Black and brown people are never going to forget the employers, the companies, the institutions that did this to us,” she says. “We dump you. We have no interest in being represented by a pro-genocide agent.”

Rao believes that what's happening to her is a symptom of the way society attempts to silence detractors, particularly other non-white people who she says are usually the first to show up for those who need justice. “This is a silencing tactic, and I frankly don't care,” Rao insists. “There's no price tag on selling your soul to the devil. … It's very on-brand for America to do this.”

The Here4TheKids founder is encouraged by the growing number of people supporting a ceasefire in Palestine, something a majority of Americans reportedly agree on. She calls on more white Americans to join the call against genocide.

“All the people who are silent, it's all the people who were reading all the books in 2020 when George Floyd was murdered,” Rao blasts. “I'm pretty sure in the billion anti-racism books that white people bought, it was either said out loud or implied that genocide is bad and also silence is violence.”

In Denver, protesters have called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and there have been monthly pro-Palestine demonstrations at the Capitol.

Rao says the Israel-Hamas war has shown that even those who supported her past efforts weren’t all on board. “We had a chunk of white-supremacist, genocide-loving white women in our midst,” she says of the Here4TheKids and Race2Dinner communities. “We're also seeing the best in people, so a lot of people are waking up, a lot of people are becoming radicalized in a good way and realizing how, in order to be on the right side of history, you've got to be on the right side of the present. A lot of new people are coming to the Here4TheKids movement, too.”

Here4TheKids originally planned to flood Colorado with supporters before moving from state to state. But the group switched gears and decided to switch to one big demonstration in Washington, D.C., in March 2024. By October, just before war broke out between Israel and Hamas, it had decided to call off its March event to grow its community through education.

Rao expects to have another film out early next year about the attempted Here4TheKids sit-in. While she now lives in Virginia, she expects to come back to Denver for a screening.

“I myself am taking a hiatus from the state of Colorado, so I have no plans to return anytime soon," Rao says. "But I'm sure I'll be there at some point next year."

For now, she and Jackson are taking a pause to breathe, in part because of the “colossal letdown of white women” who said they would protest in Colorado this June but didn’t show up. The group expected 25,000 people; only around 1,000 came.

Rao says that what happened with Here4TheKids and what is currently going on with her support of Palestine are both examples of people being afraid to do the right thing.

“I think it's really sad and pathetic for the most privileged and powerful people in this country — white people, especially white people who are financially secure, who can afford to get fired, can afford to resign, can afford, frankly, to do the right thing — and they're not,” Rao concludes. “They're hanging on for their jobs and not saying a word about this so they can take their tenth trip to Paris next year or give their kids an extra-special, awesome Christmas while Palestinian kids are buried under rubble. I think it's disgusting.”