Jamie Foxx, an actor, issued an apology to the Jewish community on Saturday after it was claimed that his cryptic Instagram post about “fake friends” encouraged antisemitism.
“I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post. I now know my choice of words have caused offense and I’m sorry,” he wrote. “That was never my intent.”
What caused the post is unknown.
A Wider Frame, a newsletter that says it aims to provide “a better overall understanding and scope of Jewish world news,” shared Foxx’s original post and called it “horrifically antisemitic.” Actor Jennifer Aniston then re-posted A Wider Frame after she came under fire for seemingly liking Foxx’s post.
“This really makes me sick,” Aniston wrote in an Instagram Story. “I did not ‘like’ this post on purpose or by accident. And more importantly, I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feed – I do NOT support any type of antisemitism. And I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind. Period.”
Foxx added that his message was intended for a “fake friend” who abandoned him when he was recovering from an undisclosed medical emergency.
“That’s what I meant by ‘they’ not anything more,” he wrote. “I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community. My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended.”
Many individuals defended Foxx, some claiming that it was a reference to a term frequently used by the Black community.
“Any black person growing up in the south will tell you that Jamie Foxx wasn’t referring to Jewish people. ‘They killed/lied on/talked about Jesus’ simply means ‘If Jesus can be betrayed, so can you.’ He genuinely meant fake friends/fake people. So quick to reach, it’s ridiculous,” one user tweeted.
“Jamie Foxx is a decent person so of course he apologized for potentially offending folks. But it def got misconstrued in the most oblivious way possible, like was the ‘fake friends’ hashtag only visible for some folks??” another tweeted.
“I read Jamie Foxx’s original post and just wondered what fake friends had done him wrong. That’s all,” another tweet read.
