Jamie Foxx apologises to ‘the Jewish community and everyone offended’ by Christ-killer post
In a now-deleted Instagram post, the Django Unchained actor, 55, wrote: 'They killed this dude name Jesus… What do you think they’ll do to you???!'
Actor Jamie Foxx has apologised to “the Jewish community and everyone who was offended” by a social media post that appeared to echo antisemitic beliefs that Jews are collectively responsible for Christ’s death.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, the Django Unchained actor, 55, wrote: “They killed this dude name Jesus… What do you think they’ll do to you???!”
The message, posted last Friday, was accompanied by the cryptic hashtags #fakefriends and #fakelove.
On Saturday, Foxx addressed the criticism in a new Instagram post which said: “I want to apologise to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post.
“I now know my choice of words have caused offense and I’m sorry. That was never my intent.
“To clarify, I was betrayed by a fake friend and that’s what I meant with ‘they’ not anything more.”
Danny Stone MBE, chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, responded to the post saying:”Anti-Jewish racism punches down and up. One of the ways it punches up is by depicting Jews as supernaturally powerful.
“The idea of Jews being powerful enough to kill Jesus has been used to fuel conspiracist fantasies and religiously motivated murder for hundreds of years.
“This, despite the Pope and the Vatican Council having made it clear that there is no Jewish collective responsibility for Jesus’s death.
“It’s good that Foxx has apologised. He should now use his platform to educate about this trope.”
Foxx’s post had gained further attention after actress Jennifer Aniston, who rose to prominence playing a Jewish character, Rachel Green, in the US sitcom Friends, appeared to “like” the message.
Aniston later published a statement on her own account saying she felt “sick” for deciding to “like” Foxx’s post.
Sources close to the actress suggested she had not read the main text, but was instead responding to the actor’s hashtag about “fake friends.”
Foxx has been suffering from an undisclosed medical condition that led him to being hospitalised in April.
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