Bette Midler has been criticised fort sharing a photoshopped image of members of the Supreme Court wearing beards, turbans and a burka.
The tweet, made in apparent reference to the court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v Wade, was branded racist and Islamophobic by social media users.
The Republican-controlled Supreme Court ruled last month in favour of a Mississippi law that outlaws abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy, while also overturning key precedents established by the 1973 decision in Roe v Wade.
Midler, who also caused controversy this week with posts deemed “transphobic”, did not share a comment alongside the Supreme Court image.
The post has been widely interpreted as likening the recent abortion ruling to Islamic or Sharia law. However, Islam does not forbid abortions, and, while abortion laws vary signifcantly across different majority-Muslim nations, abortion is not banned outright in any of them.
Followers and Twitter users condemned the comparison, with many pointing out that the Supreme Court decision was decided by white American Christians.
“This is so racist, my God,” one person wrote.
“Uuuuh nope it was Christian white men who did this. Also wtf Bette??” another wrote.
Analyst Ali Ahmadi wrote: “ As a Muslim who lived in America for 20 yrs, I’m really tired of you people pretending anything wrong with your society is you getting Muslim cooties.
“Have Christian hardliners not been a force in US politics for 100 yrs? The call is coming from inside the house.”
“This here is clearly Islamophobic. Yikes,” someone else remarked.
The Independent has contacted Midler’s representative for comment.
