Actress Susan Sarandon has finally issued an apology after having shoved her foot ankle-deep into her mouth, while making remarks about the Jewish people and hate crimes. The controversy erupted amid widespread concerns about rising antisemitism in the West.
Sarandon made the comments during a pro-Hamas rally, in which she referenced the rise in antisemitic hate crimes and said that Jewish Americans are “getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”
Naturally, her comments were widely criticized as an attempt to minimize violence against Jews in America. Coming at a time when hate crimes against Jews have risen even more sharply than acts of Islamophobia, it was quite a blunder and the backlash is still in effect.
However, the actress recently tried to mollify some of her critics with a mea culpa on Instagram. She acknowledged that her “phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true.”
She referenced the history of the persecution against Jews, and said that she regretted “diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment.”
Her apology comes after United Talent Agency, the organization that had represented her since 2014, decided to drop her; this might be the reason why she expressed remorse in the first place. Indeed, given the fact that the far-leftist anti-Israel crowd expressed virulently antisemitic sentiments during their marches and demonstrations, it is possible that Sarandon thought she could get away with downplaying the persecution against the Jewish people no matter how ridiculous she sounded in the process.
However, if this is the case, the actress completely miscalculated. The backlash came from both the left and the right, which makes sense because even the most uneducated among us knows that historically, Jews have gone through untold levels of persecution.
What is even more ludicrous about this situation is that people like Sarandon feel the need to play the oppression Olympics. There have been increased concerns over Islamophobia and antisemitism. Both Jews and Muslims have been attacked in America amid the Israel-Hamas war. Why is it so hard to just acknowledge that all bigotry is wrong instead of downplaying one in favor of another?
The actress’ apology could be seen as a way to rectify a mistake. However, given the current political climate, it is tough to take people at their word when everything is saturated in politics.
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