Susan Sarandon Apologizes for Comment About Jews at Rally

The Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon apologized Friday for saying at a pro-Palestinian rally final month that individuals feeling afraid of being Jewish proper now had been “getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence.”

The remarks drew widespread criticism and shortly afterward her company, United Talent Agency, let it’s recognized that it had dropped her as a shopper.

In a assertion posted to Instagram Friday evening, Sarandon stated that she had been attempting to speak her concern for rising hate crimes. “This phrasing was a terrible mistake,” she stated, “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,” she stated, referring to the synagogue taking pictures that killed 11 and wounding six others within the deadliest antisemitic assault in American historical past, “Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day.”

“I deeply regret diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment,” she stated of her remarks on the Nov. 17 rally. “It was my intent to show solidarity in the struggle against bigotry of all kinds, and I am sorry I failed to do so.”

Antisemitic incidents and Islamophobic assaults have soared in New York City, on campuses and on-line for the reason that Israel-Hamas conflict started.

Sarandon, 77, has lengthy been an outspoken activist for progressive and left-wing causes, generally clashing with extra reasonable liberals in Hollywood, whereas nurturing a prolific profession that includes iconic roles in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” “Bull Durham” and “Thelma & Louise.” More lately she appeared within the Showtime sequence “Ray Donovan” and the DC Comics film “Blue Beetle,” which got here out in August.