Actor Jamie Foxx issued an apology to the Jewish community on Saturday after it was claimed that his cryptic and since-deleted Instagram post about “fake friends” encouraged anti-Semitism. The actor received a lot of backlash since, as it’s obvious, his supporters and critics didn’t take it well.
Foxx’s post came under criticism for appearing to echo the anti-Semitic notion that Jews were to blame for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The actor’s post came while he still continues to recover from a “medical complication” he faced while filming the Netflix movie Back in Action.
What Made Jamie Foxx Apologize?
Actor Jamie Foxx expressed regret on Saturday for what looked to be an anti-Semitic Instagram post, saying he had been “betrayed” by a so-called and had not intended to spread anti-Semitic rhetoric.
The Oscar-winning actor took to Instagram, saying,
“I want to apologize 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.”
Foxx’s message was in reference to a prior post, no longer found on his feed, which read, “They killed this dude named Jesus… What do you think they’ll do to you???!” He ended the post with the hashtags #fakefriends and #fakelove.
“They” in the post, as per some critics, referred to the Jewish people, as historically, anti-Semitism has been associated with the idea that Jews are to blame for the killing of Jesus.
In his message on Saturday, he continued,
“To clarify, I was betrayed by a fake friend and that’s what I meant with ‘they’ not anything more. I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community. My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended.”
He included four heart emojis and a praying hands emoji along with the fox emoji in his post.
How Is Jennifer Aniston Linked With Jamie Foxx’s Initial Post?
Jennifer Aniston was also involved in the uproar sparked by Foxx’s initial remark. In a screenshot posted by A Wider Frame, an outlet that seeks to provide “a better overall understanding and scope of Jewish world news,” the actress appeared to like Foxx’s Friday post (now deleted).
She took to Instagram to disassociate herself from the “Like Comment” and deny any allegations that she might have been endorsing any hate in compliance to Jamie Foxx’s now-deleted post.
“This really makes me sick,” her statement began.
“I did not ’like’ this post on purpose or by accident. And more importantly, I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feeds.”
She further went on to add, “I do not support any form of antisemitism. And I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind Period.”
Many people came to Foxx’s defense, with some saying that it was referencing a phrase commonly used by the Black community.
Source: NBC News