Jamie Foxx has apologised after becoming embroiled in an antisemitism row after he shared an Instagram post that appeared to allude to anti-Jewish tropes.
Foxx shared a statement to his 16.7million followers which said: “They killed this dude name [sic] Jesus what do you think they’ll do to you???!”
The post was followed by the hashtags ‘#fakefriends’ and ‘#fakelove.’
Some social media users said the message appeared to echo the antisemitic belief that Jewish people were collectively responsible for the killing of Christ - a slur that has led to violence and pogroms against Jews for centuries.
Foxx deleted the post and apologised “to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended my post”, claiming it had been misinterpreted.
He added: “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," the Ray star said in an Instagram post.”
It comes after Hollywood actress Jenifer Aniston faced criticism for ‘liking’ the post.
Ms Aniston, 54, who has almost 43 million followers on Instagram, later insisted she mistakenly clicked ‘like’, adding: “This really makes me sick... 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. I do NOT support any form of antisemitism. I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind. Period.”
Foxx, who was recently treated in hospital for a mystery emergency issue, has spoken of his strong commitment to the Christian faith and his involvement in the baptist church.
