Actor John Cusack failed at his attempt to do damage-control after tweeting, then deleting, an anti-Semitic meme.
The “Say Anything” star came under heavy fire after posting the tweet that was rife with Jewish stereotypes and his repeated attempts to defend himself only made matters worse, before he ended up blaming “a bot” for the move.
A discussion of a recent Israeli military attack which damaged a Palestinian hospital was the topic of tweets that responded to Cusack and prompted his reply, which was a retweet of an image of a hand marked with a Star of David that was crushing people.
“Follow the money,” Cusack wrote along with the image in a tweet that was screenshot by journalist Yashar Ali who declared, “This is disgusting.”
This is disgusting pic.twitter.com/4b2RlPrNfL
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) June 17, 2019
“To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,” the original tweet that was still up on Twitter, said.
— Mahmoud AbuYusef Tamimi (@mhtamimi12) June 17, 2019
Cusack was immediately slammed for his tweet.
He’s now digging himself deeper with a tweet storm trying to justify why he posted it…
— Naomi Schmahl #forsama (@SchmahlNaomi) June 18, 2019
The criticism caused Cusack to go on the defensive in series of follow-up responses.
recognize Palestinian are forced to live in an open air prison. That’s not anti semetic to say that – that recognizes their plight as part of the fight for justice
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 17, 2019
Ya the state violence – RT @JohnHerer420: @7hisDar1in9Man @johncusack @mhtamimi12 @GottaBernNow Its obviously meant to be the flag, put it this way I didnt think “jews” when i saw it…all I thought was “Israel”.
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 17, 2019
It stemmed from a defense of Israel bombing hospitals – by a candidate – RT @philledup: @johncusack Good catch
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 17, 2019
It’s was – but its context was a retweet about Palestinians hospitals being bombed – my bad on retweet – of an alt right image-
RT @t you do understand now that the image was antisemitic even if that was not your intention
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
Oh boy- yes- was referencing the bombing of a hospital – war inc – Israel and US will get called out. made a mistake retweeting that – as i said – and sorry – I’m anti fascist-in every respect –
RT @ResethO: So,https://t.co/8yQyW7E4AW— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
Cusack responded to many of the angry tweets hurled his way, asking one person, “You think Israel isn’t commuting [sic] atrocities against Palestinians? What planet are you on?”
Eventually the actor blamed the mess on a “bot” in another tweet which was also deleted.
“A bot got me- I thought I was endorsing a pro Palestinian justice retweet – of an earlier post – it came I think from a different source – Shouldn’t Have retweeted,” he said.
3. John Cusack repeatedly defended his tweet before deleting it.
His “bot” excuse is absurd. pic.twitter.com/Jm2NArFVEO
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) June 18, 2019
He defended himself to others accusing him of anti-Semitism by noting his support of Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.
🙂 RT @mutehornsection: @babyfacedmoron @johncusack @heykim Right. He’s so antisemitic that he wants a Jewish person to be president. Feel the antisemitism!
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
Cusack continued his string of tweets in the ongoing effort to douse the fire.
1. it’s clear that even if it was Israel’s flag & even if you don’t have antisemitic bone in your body, it is still an antisemitic cartoon. Because it deploys anti jewish stereotypes in its attacks on Israel, even if those critiques about state violence are legit
I mistakenly— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
2 I mistakenly retweeted an alt right account I thought was agreeing With the horrible bombing of a hospital in Palestine –
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
“I RT’d & quickly deleted an image that’s harmful to both Jewish & Palestinian friends, & for that I’m sorry,” he wrote. “The image depicted a blue Star of David, which I associated with Israel as their flag uses the same color & shape. I know the star itself is deeply meaningful to Jews no matter where they stand on Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.”
3 The use of the star, even if it depicts the state of Israel- committing human rights violations
– when combined with anti Jewish tropes about power- is antisemitic & antisemitism has no place in any rational political dialoge— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
“I get why it was a careless dumb thing to retweet,” the actor added, concluding that it was good to use his mistake to “spread awareness.”
6 – so while I won’t take guff from anyone looking to score cheap shots on a caress mistweet- good to use my mistake to spread awareness – solidarity and peace to all
— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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