Euphoria star Hunter Schafer arrested at pro-Palestine protest during Joe Biden TV appearance

Euphoria actor Hunter Schafer was among dozens of protesters arrested at NBC’s headquarters in Manhattan during the president Joe Biden’s appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers earlier this week, organisers confirmed Wednesday.

The 25-year-old star was part of a group of more than 100 demonstrators who packed the lobby at 30 Rockefeller Plaza on Monday afternoon to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war, the group Jewish Voice for Peace said.

Schafer and other protesters wore black shirts reading “Ceasefire Now” and “Not in Our Name” while chanting “Let Gaza live” and other slogans as Biden’s motorcade pulled into the area, according to videos and photos of the event provided by Jewish Voice Peace.

Schafer, who like many protesters also wore a face mask, was seen at one point seated on the floor as others hold up a banner behind her reading: “Jews to Biden: Stop Arming Genocide”.

Representatives for Schafer didn’t respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday, but protest organisers said she and others are due in court sometime in March.

“We commend her commitment to Palestinian freedom and to a future of justice for everyone,” Sonya MeyersonKnox, of Jewish Voice for Peace, said in an emailed statement confirming the arrest on Wednesday.

The New York police department on Wednesday said 30 people were taken into custody and issued summonses for trespassing after the hour-and-a-halflong demonstration.

Biden, meanwhile, said Monday he was optimistic a ceasefire would be reached in the coming days.

“I hope by the end of the weekend,” he told reporters after taping the late show interview. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. My hope is by next Monday we’ll have a ceasefire.”