Actor Jamie Foxx apologized Saturday over the phrasing of a recent Instagram post about the death of Jesus Christ that some accused of being antisemitic, including actor Jennifer Aniston.
“They killed this dude name Jesus,” Foxx wrote in a recent Instagram post that is no longer featured on his account, according to screenshots. “What do you think they’ll do to you???! #fakefriends #fakelove”
Some Instagram users interpreted the “they” in Foxx’s post to be a reference to a longstanding conspiratorial trope that Jews were primarily responsible for the Roman Empire’s execution of Christ on charges of sedition, which anti-hate groups including Anti-Defamation League have previously called a “myth” used to justify anti-Jewish violence.
An Instagram account for Jewish news, A Wider Frame, shared a screenshot of Foxx’s post and called it “horrifically antisemitic.” Followers of the account noticed in the screenshot that Aniston had “liked” Foxx’s post and expressed concerns that Aniston was supporting Foxx’s post, which prompted Aniston to post her own accusation against Foxx on Instagram Stories: “This really makes me sick. I did not ‘like’ this post on purpose or by accident. And more important, I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feeds – I do NOT support any form of antisemitism.”
On Saturday, Foxx acknowledged concerns about his post but strongly denied that he was referring to Jewish people.
“I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post,” Foxx wrote in a follow-up post Saturday. “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. I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community. My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended.”
“I am Jewish and I thought it was one helluva leap to call it antisemitic,” David Krumholtz, an actor who recently starred in “Oppenheimer,” replied to Foxx’s apology. “I knew exactly what you meant. Everybody needs to chill.”
Foxx recently starred in Netflix’s “They Cloned Tyrone,” co-starring John Boyega and Teyonah Parris, and has recently been in the news after he was hospitalized in April for unspecified reasons.
