Actor Jamie Foxx apologized Saturday after posting an Instagram post that some saw as antisemitic.
The post, which ran with the hashtags of “fake friends” and “fake love” on Friday, read: “They killed this dude name Jesus... What do you think they’ll do to you?”
Foxx, 55, later deleted the post, saying he regretted his choice of words.
“I now know my choice of words have caused offense and I’m sorry. That was never my intent.” He clarified that he was “betrayed by a fake friend and that’s what I meant with ‘they’ not anything more.”
The news website A Wider Frame, which focuses on Jewish issues, said that using the word “they” in his post was a “horrifically antisemitic message to his 16.7 million followers.”
A document signed by the worldwide Roman Catholic church’s leadership during the Second Vatican Council in 1965 officially condemned the idea that Jews were collectively guilty for Christ’s killing.
The controversy grew when a screenshot posted on social media appeared to show actor Jennifer Aniston’s account liked the original post before it was deleted. Aniston issued a statement about the post on Instagram stories, which disappear after 24 hours.
“This really makes me sick. I did not ‘like’ this post on purpose or by accident,” Aniston said. “And, more importantly, I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up on their feeds — I do NOT support any form of antisemitism. And I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind. Period.”
Foxx has not been heard of on social media for months following what a family member said was a “medical emergency” he suffered while working on a movie in Atlanta.
