Gay adult film producer Michael Lucas faces boycott after signing bomb 'to Gaza'

The United Nations warned of the "risk of genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza two weeks after Israel declared war on Hamas in response to its October 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 Israelis. Hamas took another 240 as hostages with more than 100 still captured.

Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip has since killed over 22,000 Palestinians — more than 1.2 percent of the total population. Almost 2 million people have been displaced, accounting for 90 percent of Gaza's population. The vast majority of the dead are women and children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health and reported by NPR.

“I don’t want to draw more attention to the post; I find it both saddening and reprehensible,” added Kyle Overton, who goes by the stage name Sean Xavier. "For those that are inquiring, I will no longer be promoting my work with that studio, nor accepting future offers to work with them."

As the hashtags gained traction, Lucas lashed out at his critics, telling the New York Post that "the people trying to cancel me are nothing but vile antisemites."

"There is no other explanation for such hate for Israelis and such support for people who would murder Jews and gays in the most barbaric ways," he said. "I am not intimidated by this and I won’t delete the tweet no matter how many threats I continue to receive."

Lucas did not point to what exactly in the posts from other adult entertainment stars he believes constitutes antisemitism. Human rights activists and organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, maintain that criticisms of Israel do not inherently equate to bias against Jewish people.

Lucas produced the gay adult film Men of Israel, which was the first major adult film to feature an entirely Jewish cast.

His response to the recent backlash and some of his previous work have since been called out for "pinkwashing" — a term that refers to the strategy of promoting LGBTQ+ rights as a way to distract from violence against other communities. The term is often applied to Israel by activists, as its government frequently promotes the country as a safe-haven for LGBTQ+ people in the Middle East, despite same-sex marriage not being legal. Interfaith marriage is also not legal in Israel.

Xavier called on those "compelled to action" by Lucas' post to donate to Save the Children, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid to children affected by conflict and other disasters.

Related: Here Are Ways You Can Help Palestinian Civilians That Aren't Just Donating