Mia Khalifa, who has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict, said she despised the U.S. government during an interview with British-American broadcaster Louis Theroux.
The model and influencer made the comments on an episode of Theroux’s podcast released on Tuesday, in which she described America as the “country of capitalism, it’s the American dream, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish there,” but added, “I despise the American government, and the infrastructure of America and everything that it stands for.”
Khalifa said she understood the appeal of “the American dream” but “it’s called that for a reason.”
She said that she “knew British people” who would say how much they wanted to live in America like her, but her response was, “What? You have health care, stay here! What are you doing?”
Ladies and gentlemen and everyone else, presenting the one and only Mia Khalifa. It was a pleasure hosting Mia on the podcast. Autism, sex work, the internet, and Lebanon were all discussed and much else besides. pic.twitter.com/u6B819Fkgy
— Louis Theroux (@louistheroux) September 24, 2024
Newsweek has contacted Khalifa for comment via email.
The Lebanese-American former adult-film star has long criticized President Joe Biden, particularly over issues relating to the conflict in Gaza, as she has been a vocal supporter of Palestine.
In November 2023, she posted “This geriatric f*** can’t ceasefire anything,” re-sharing an image of Biden on his birthday.
She also referred to Hamas as “freedom fighters” in a post on X (formerly Twitter) shared shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which she explained was because “that’s what the Palestinian citizens are… fighting for freedom every day.”
Vianney Le Caer/Invision via AP
In a rare moment of praise for the president, Khalifa did express her support for Biden’s plan to recategorize marijuana federally to a Schedule 3 drug, after he declared, “No one should be jailed for simply using or possessing marijuana.”
Khalifa also shared with Theroux on the podcast that she left her native country of Lebanon to come to the U.S. in 2001 “for a better life,” describing how at the time, “everyone was trying to leave.”
In 2000, Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon, but the violence between the two countries continued for years to come, Reuters reported.
Given Hezbollah’s involvement in the Gaza conflict, Lebanon remains a place of continuous conflict and on Tuesday Lebanese authorities said Israeli attacks on Hezbollah targets killed 558 people, including 50 children and 94 women, and wounded 1,835, according to Reuters.
When asked by Theroux to summarize the conflict proceeding her move to the U.S. in 2001, Khalifa said, “I will not summarize it because I can’t even wrap my head around it,” adding the conflict was “convoluted” and “f***ed up.”
Khalifa arrived in the U.S. in 2001, just before 9/11, and she acknowledged it having “an impact” on her.
She grew up in Maryland, “only 20 minutes from Washington, D.C.,” and she explained her school went on “lockdown,” which she shared was a “really, really scary time.”
She was eight years old at the time, and the model said that she was “made to watch” the footage of the incident, which she said was “traumatic.”
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