On Saturday (December 2nd), Susan Sarandon posted a statement to Instagram to apologize for comments she made about Jewish people at a pro-Palestinian rally last month. The Anywhere But Here actor was dropped by her talent agency following these remarks.
“Recently, I attended a rally alongside a diverse group of activists seeking to highlight the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and call for a ceasefire,” she wrote, explaining that she hadn’t planned to speak at the rally but was invited to at the last minute.
“Intending to communicate my concern for an increase in hate crimes, I said that Jewish Americans, as the targets of rising antisemitic hate, ‘are getting a taste of what it is like to be Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence,'” Sarandon said, in part.
“This phrasing was a terrible mistake, as it implies that until recently Jews have been strangers to persecution, when the opposite is true,” she added. “As we all know, from centuries of oppression and genocide in Europe to the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, PA, Jews have long been familiar with discrimination and religious violence which continues to this day.”
The Lovely Bones actor added that she “deeply regrets diminishing this reality and hurting people with this comment.”