Nathaniel Buzolic, who played Kol Mikaelson on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, is accusing one of his former co-stars of blacklisting him from appearing at fan conventions because of his pro-Israel views.
“I’m gonna spill some tea for you right now if you’re a Vampire Diaries and Originals fan,” he began in a video posted on Instagram Monday. “There’s an actor that I worked with who has had me banned from attending fan events if he’s there, quietly. He doesn’t share his solidarity with the Palestinian people on his social media, but that’s probably because he wants to protect his career.”
“But he also wanted to stop me from getting work and meeting with fans at fan events. So if you’ve noticed my absence, that’s why,” he added in the video that veered towards racist slurs directed at Arab Palestinians.
Buzolic called his co-star, whom he didn’t name in the video, a “coward,” claiming they won’t “publicly share their support for the jihadist, camel-abusing keffiyeh culture of the Arab Palestinians that I’ve been sharing for the last three years, since Oct. 7.”
“But they want to stop people like me from earning an income and getting work,” he added before ending the video with “always and forever, eh” — the sacred family mantra associated with the Mikaelson family in The Originals.
Buzolic made his debut in The Vampire Diaries — starring Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder — in season three in 2012. His character Kol was one of the siblings in the Mikaelson family, which also included fan-favorite characters Klaus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Rebekah (Claire Holt). He reprised his role in the spinoff series The Originals, which ran for five seasons from 2013 to 2018.
He added in his Instagram video’s caption, “Telling the truth will always cost you something but at least you will never become a coward. I remember when he didn’t want to do fan events cause he thought he was above that. Can you guess who?”
Buzolic has publicly voiced his support for Israel for years, frequently visiting the country and posting about it on social media. Following the Oct. 7 attacks in Gaza, he’s condemned Hamas and spoken out against the pro-Palestinian movement.