Dr. Sheila Nazarian said Wednesday on “America’s Newsroom” that actress Elizabeth Banks and other public figures are ignoring what she described as ongoing human rights abuses against women in Iran, including executions tied to recent protests.
“This Elizabeth Banks sitting comfy in a little cushy couch on a podcast with her hair slicked back talking about how could anyone vote for ,” Nazarian said. “You claim to be a feminist. You claim to be a humanitarian. Where are you when the women need you? Youre a fake. Youre a hypocrite.”
Nazarians remarks came after Banks said she does not “understand” the 53% of White women who voted for President Donald Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I dont understand the 53% of White ladies that didnt vote for Kamala. What were you thinking?” .
Nazarian, a California-based plastic surgeon who fled Iran as a child, made the remarks during an interview with host Bill Hemmer, who cited reports from human rights groups that Iranian courts had following January protests, including a woman.
The segment focused on both the treatment of women under and broader reactions in the West. Nazarian framed the issue as a humanitarian crisis, criticizing what she characterized as selective outrage from prominent voices.
“This woman, Beta, is about to be gang-raped and publicly executed, and so are three more women,” Nazarian said. “They have been doing this to many young people every single day, one or two public executions.”
Nazarian described practices she attributed to the Iranian regime regarding female prisoners facing execution.
“In Iran, this regime, these Islamists, they believe that if a woman is killed and shes a virgin, she goes to heaven,” she said. “So what they do is they will gang-rape her before they execute her.”
“They are killing young people every single day,” Nazarian said.
Nazarian also pointed to her familys experience fleeing Iran, describing the risks they faced under the regime.
“My family escaped Iran on the back of a pickup truck while the Iranian border police was shooting at us,” she said. “They had two daughters. They could see this is no future for a girl in Iran.”
“Imagine there are millions of people in Iran who knew freedom 47 years ago, and they lost it,” Nazarian said.
Hemmer asked about reports that much of Iran had been offline, while some elites retained internet access. Nazarian said her information from inside the country reflects fear of the regime.
“The only things that Im hearing from Iran is that they dont want the bombs to stop,” she said. “They are more afraid of this regime than they are of the targeted attacks.”
Nazarian reiterated that the situation extends beyond geopolitics and should be viewed through the lens of human rights.
“Iran isn’t just a military war or peace in the Middle East or oil stabilization,” she said. “This is a humanitarian issue.”
