Metropolitan Police are reviewing video of Helen Mirren and husband Taylor Hackford being subjected to antisemitic verbal abuse in Tower Hill, with the confrontation believed to have happened late last year.
Footage shared widely this week shows an off-camera person calling Mirren an “evil Zionist” and citing her past remarks that Israel should endure because of the Holocaust; Hackford responds, while Mirren stays silent.
Police said officers are trying to contact the victims to see whether they want to report the incident, though a victim complaint is not always required for a hate-crime investigation.
Mirren is not Jewish, but police said an incident can still be investigated as antisemitic hate crime if the abuse targets perceived Jewish identity or views; the force says it has made more than 90 hate-crime arrests since late March.
The video revived scrutiny of Mirren’s public comments on Israel during promotion for 2023 film “Golda,” when she backed Israel’s existence while also criticizing its leadership.