Celebrities join worldwide calls to #BringBackOurGirls

Celebrities, Chibok girls

20 May 2014

Celebrities have continued to join the worldwide calls for urgent action to find the missing Nigerian schoolgirls and return them home safely.

Social media has been flooded with posts from famous people and ordinary folk alike using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls.

Politicians, including US First Lady Michelle Obama, joined film stars and musicians in taking to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to add their support for the kidnapped girls, who were snatched by Boko Haram gunmen from their school in Borno state on April 14.

At the Billboard Music Awards on May 18, singer Ricky Martin held a #BringBackOurGirls card on the red carpet in Las Vegas.

The stars of The Expendables 3 – including Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes and Antonio Banderas – held similar signs at the Cannes Film festival on the same day – see the picture below.

Also at Cannes, actress and Chime For Change co-founder Salma Hayek (pictured below) held up a #BringBackOurGirls sign as she walked past photographers at a showing of the animated film The Prophet.

Other famous people have spoken out about the abductions of the girl at Chibok in Borno state.

Film star and United Nations special envoy Angelina Jolie said: “The kidnapping of these young Nigerian girls is an unthinkable cruelty. Sadly, of course, there is real evil in the world. You watch the news and you see all of the people suffering and so much cruelty.”

Film Michelle Obama used the president’s weekly radio address to the nation to say: “In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters. We see their hopes, their dreams, and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now.”

Anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof said: “At the heart of this is a fanatical ideology that is repulsive, of course, but when it attacks schoolgirls, the world wants to throw up.”

Oscar-winning film star Anne Hathaway took part in a protest in Los Angeles, waving a #BringBackOurGirls placard. She used a megaphone to tell the crowd: “These Nigerian girls are part of a 5% of girls who are able to seek an education. They were taken from their beds in the middle of the night by cowards who tell them that girls do not deserve an education.”

Here are just a few of the many tweets, selfies and messages of support from famous backers of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign.

Singer, songwriter, producer and actor Mary J. Blige…

Singer and British X Factor winner Leona Lewis…

Singer Madonna on her Facebook page…

Amy Poehler from the TV show Parks and Recreation on Instagram…

Hip hop recording star and political activist Wyclef Jean…

US First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House…

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton…

Rapper, producer and actor Sean Combs on Instagram…

Sean Combs #BringBackOurGirls