Wed 19 June 2019:
Actor posts message alongside popular far-right motto before backtracking amid barrage of criticism
John Cusack has apologised after coming under fire for an antisemitic tweet. Cusack retweeted a quotation, accompanied by a Star of David image, popular among the far right: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”
It is often misattributed to Voltaire but is in fact a reworking of a quotation from American neo-nazi Kevin Alfred Strom. Cusack then added: “Follow the money.” He has since deleted the tweet. Cusack initially appeared to defend his tweet in subsequent Twitter posts, in which he added comments such as: “You think Israel isn’t commuting [sic] atrocities against Palestinians? what planet are you on?”
1. it’s clear that even if it was Israel’s flag & even if you don’t have 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
I mistakenly— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
Cusack, you RT an antisemitic conspiracy theory that caused the genocide of millions of Jews, add “follow the money” & defended ur RT. U apologized, but have U really learned? Will U now read up on antisemitism, its history, language, mechanisms, & pass on that knowledge? pic.twitter.com/jki4zWF5vR
— Yitzhak Santis יצחק סנטיס (@YSantis) June 18, 2019
He appears to have accepted that his original tweet was antisemitic, having posted: “Even if you don’t have antisemitic bone in your body, it is still an antisemitic cartoon.” Suggesting that he thought he was using the quote to attack Israeli policy, he added: “The use of the star, even if it depicts the state of Israel – committing human rights violations – when combined with anti Jewish tropes about power – is antisemitic & antisemitism has no place in any rational political dialoge [sic].”
3 The use of the star, even if it depicts the state of Israel- committing human rights violations
– when combined with anti Jewish tropes about power- is antisemitic & antisemitism has no place in any rational political dialoge— John Cusack (@johncusack) June 18, 2019
He failed to address his own addition to the tweet, “Follow the money”, which incurred further accusations of antisemitism.
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