Actress Susan Sarandon on Friday night issued an apology for controversial remarks she made about Jews at a pro-Palestinian rally which led to accusations of antisemitism, calling her phrasing "a terrible mistake."
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Speaking at a November 17 pro-Palestinian rally, Sarandon said that U.S. Jews fearing for their safety amid a spike in antisemitism “are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.”
The 77-year-old's comments sparked widespread outrage and led Hollywood talent agency UTA to drop her as a client.
In an Instagram post, Sarandon said that she intended through her words at the rally to "communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes."
"This phrasing was a terrible mistake," she wrote to her 1.7 million followers, "as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true."
"As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe, to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day," she further wrote, referring to the massacring of 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October 2018, considered the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
"I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment. It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so."
Since October 7, there has been a drastic surge in violent incidents with antisemitic and Islamophobic motives in New York City, across various campuses and online.
The Oscar-winning actress, long known for her political activism and radical leftist stance, has recently been intensively sharing extreme anti-Israel content on social media, including videos of former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters and rabbis from Neturei Karta, a fringe and radical ultra-Orthodox group that denies Israel's right to exist.