WME agent sends text messages titled 'Fuck the left, kill everyone' after Hamas kills hostages

Tensions over violence in the Middle East erupted in a WME chat thread this weekend when the agent for Matthew McConaughey, Jason Momoa, Kevin Hart and others reacted angrily following the killing of six Israeli hostages by Hamas, writing, “Fuck the left, kill everyone,” TheWrap has learned.

Top WME agent Brandt Joel deleted the text a few minutes later, but only after some colleagues, angry about the violence of the message, took a screenshot of it.

Despite the deletion, “his tacit (or explicit) endorsement of violence – genocide? – against Palestinians was shocking,” a colleague who asked to remain anonymous wrote to TheWrap, noting that he shared Joel's messages from the private group chat because of what he called “Brandt's vicious racism.”

A person close to the agency told TheWrap that Joel's message was about killing terrorists.

The agent's message was sent in a Jewish advocacy group that included WME partner Nancy Josephson and agent Katie Slater, both of whom expressed regret over the hostages' deaths. President Joe Biden's statement on the hostages' deaths was also shared in the group chat.

His message shocked his colleagues at WME, a source told TheWrap. “Everyone was writing to each other and asking what was wrong with him.”

The news comes at a time when emotions are running high after more hostages were killed nearly a year after the terrorist group Hamas first launched an attack on Israel. The first attack killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 hostages, sparking a protracted military conflict in Gaza. Joel is a U.S. military veteran who served four years in the Marines and was deployed to the Persian Gulf before moving on to Hollywood.

“The outrage over six dead Israelis (which is TERRIBLE) and the complete disregard for what is happening to tens of thousands of Palestinians is absurd,” wrote a fellow agent. That source told TheWrap that this wasn’t the first disturbing message Joel had sent.

Joel had previously sharply criticized the agency's continued representation of some clients in the group chat, writing: “We have behaved weakly. Every department has clients we should have fired but didn't. This shows that we are weak and have tolerated abhorrent behavior.”

“Fortunately, there are very few outliers,” he added, “but we have not fired a single one yet and that is shameful.”

A conversation with TheWrap revealed that he was referring to clients who had expressed their support for Hamas.

Actress Melissa Barrera was a prominent example of someone who spoke out against Israel and for Palestine during the ongoing conflict, which led to her being fired from her lead role in the upcoming sequel to “Scream.” Barrera is represented at WME, although not by Joel.

Joel's celebrity clients also include Hugh Laurie, Mahershala Ali, Jonah Hill, John Malkovich, Ted Danson, Matt LeBlanc, Justin Timberlake, Peyton Reed and others.

Both Joel and WME declined to comment for this story.

Sharon Waxman contributed to this story.