John Cusack accused of antisemitism after controversial Star of David tweet
Actor seemingly defended his post before deleting it
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.John Cusack has swiftly deleted a tweet after being accused of antisemitism.
The actor retweeted an image of a giant hand, emblazoned with a Star of David symbol, overpowering a group of people that featured the caption: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise."
While the image claims the quote was from French satirist Voltaire, it was actually spoken by white nationalist Kevin Alfred Strom.
Cusack retweeted the message with the words: "Follow the money."
After this was brought to his attention, Cusack wrote: "A bot got me. I thought I was endorsing a pro Palestinian justice retweet of an earlier post. It came I think from a different source. Shouldn’t have retweeted."
He went on to write: "It's clear that even if it was Israel's flag and even if you don't have an antisemitic bone in your body, it is still an antisemitic cartoon. Because it deploys anti Jewish stereotypes in its attacks on Israel, even if those critiques about state violence are legit.”
However, many Twitter users have since pointed out that the High Fidelity actor seemingly defended his tweet before deleting it.
When someone asked him why he'd tweeted the image, Cusack wrote in a post he's since deleted: "You think Israel isn't commuting atrocities against Palestinians? What planet are you on?"
This has prompted someone to amend the actor's Wikipedia biography so that it describes him as "an anti-semitic actor, producer and screenwriter who suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome".
The Independent has reached out to Cusack for comment.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments