Police are investigating a video of Dame Helen Mirren being verbally abused as a hate crime, after footage emerged of a man calling the Oscar-winning actor an “evil Zionist b****” as she walked with her husband in London.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they are reviewing the clip, which began circulating on social media this week but is believed to have been filmed in late 2025. Officers are attempting to contact Dame Helen and her husband, American film director Taylor Hackford, to establish whether they wish to report the incident formally.
In a statement, a Met spokesperson said: “We are aware of a video circulating online, showing a man and a woman being subjected to antisemitic verbal abuse in Tower Hill. It is believed that the incident took place at the end of last year. Officers are currently reviewing the footage and making attempts to contact the victims to establish whether they would like to report the incident.”
What the footage shows
The video, initially posted by an anonymous account called Anti-Fascist Action UK, captures the moment the 80-year-old actor and her husband were approached on a street in Tower Hill. Dame Helen can be seen smiling and greeting the man filming, asking if he is all right. He then launches into a tirade, saying: “And there is Helen Mirren the avowed Zionist. You said Israel should last forever because of the Holocaust. And she was very happy the Palestinians’ houses were gone. You are an evil Zionist b****. And you (Hackford) as well, f*** you as well.”
Mr Hackford stepped in and repeatedly told the man to “f*** off” and leave them alone.
The Met said the footage appeared to show antisemitic verbal abuse, and noted that the force has made more than 90 hate crime arrests since the end of March. “The Met continues to work hard to tackle hate crimes of all types,” the spokesperson added. “If you believe you have been a victim of this type of crime please report it to us by calling 101 or making an online report.”
Why Dame Helen Mirren is targeted despite not being Jewish
Dame Helen is not Jewish, but her long-standing and outspoken support for Israel has made her a target for those who conflate Zionism with Jewish identity, or who see any defence of the Israeli state as a political act warranting harassment.
Her public advocacy includes signing an open letter in April 2026 — alongside stars such as Boy George and Sharon Osbourne — that pledged support for Israel’s inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest. The letter described calls to ban Israel as “an inversion of justice” that subverted the spirit of the competition. Dame Helen has also previously criticised cultural boycotts of Israel and expressed admiration for the country’s artistic community, engaging with it despite pressure from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Her most explicitly pro-Israel statements came while promoting the 2023 film Golda, in which she played former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. During that press tour she said: “I believe in Israel, in the existence of Israel, and I believe Israel has to go forward into the future, for the rest of eternity. I believe in Israel because of the Holocaust.”
Dame Helen’s connection to Israel runs deep. She first visited the country in 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, volunteering on Kibbutz HaOn near the Sea of Galilee — a period when the phenomenon of international volunteers on kibbutzim surged. She also hitchhiked around the country during that trip.
Throughout her career she has portrayed several well-known Jewish figures, including Maria Altmann in Woman in Gold and Golda Meir. For her role as a retired Israeli Mossad agent in the 2010 film The Debt, she studied Hebrew, Jewish history and Holocaust literature.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism condemned the incident as “absolutely appalling”, stating that it reflects a situation where public figures are “screamed at and abused simply for being perceived as being sympathetic to the world’s only Jewish state”.
Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick said he was “disgusted” by the footage, telling LBC it was “not just antisemitism, it’s anti-British”. He added: “Everyone should be able to walk the streets of our country in safety, free from harassment.”
