John Cusack blames 'careless mistweet' after being slammed for sharing 'disgusting' anti-Semitic image

Erin Donnelly
·Yahoo Life Senior Editor
Updated ·6 min read
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John Cusack sparked outcry Monday night after retweeting an inflammatory image that has been slammed as anti-Semitic.

The 52-year-old actor, who frequently posts about politics and social issues on his Twitter account, retweeted an image of a sleeve stamped with a Star of David, the hand jutting from it crushing a mass of people. Next to the image is the quote “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize,” which, despite being mistakenly attributed to the philosopher Voltaire, is actually based on the writings of white nationalist Kevin Strom.

Cusack added the remark, “Follow the money.”

When critics slammed the “disgusting” tweet as anti-Semitic, Cusack insisted that he was speaking out against what he called Israel’s “state violence” against Palestinians, rather than criticizing those of the Jewish faith. He did acknowledge that the tweet, which he deleted, included an “alt-right” image. In another now-deleted tweet, he said that a “bot got me.”

“I’m anti fascist-in every respect,” he added in response to the uproar.

The Say Anything star’s explanation and blame on an alt-right bot did little to abate critics, who called on him to apologize. One commenter dubbed him the “thinking man’s Scott Baio” — a reference to the conservative ‘80s star — while Sen. Ted Cruz compared Cusack to Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was accused of an anti-Semitic tweet earlier this year.

The backlash prompted Cusack to backtrack and express regret for the anti-Semitic messaging.

"It's clear that even if it was Israel's flag and even if you don't have an anti-Semitic bone in your body, it is still an anti-Semitic cartoon," Cusack tweeted. "Because it deploys anti-Jewish stereotypes in its attacks on Israel, even if those critiques about state violence are legit I mistakenly ... retweeted an alt-right account I thought was agreeing with the horrible bombing of a hospital in Palestine.

"In reaction to Palestinian human rights under Israeli occupation, an issue that concerns anyone fighting for justice, I retweeted and quickly deleted an image that’s harmful to both Jewish and Palestinian friends, and for that I’m sorry," he continued.

"The image depicted a blue Star of David, which I associated with Israel as their flag uses the same color and shape. I know the star itself is deeply meaningful to Jews no matter where they stand on Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. 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 anti-Semitic and anti-Semitism has no place in any rational political dialogue. To justify it would be as bad as conflating the cross with U.S. flag when confronting U.S. atrocities. So I get why it was a careless dumb thing to retweet."

“While I won’t take guff from anyone looking to score cheap shots on a careless mistweet, [it’s] good to use my mistake to spread awareness,” he added. “Solidarity and peace to all.”

The actor also cited his support of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is Jewish — though that had commenters accusing him of “tokenism.” One told Cusack to “put down the phone and walk away, John.”

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