Jamie Lee Curtis took a robust stance in opposition to Kanye West over his antisemitic social media exercise, condemning his current habits as “simply abhorrent.”
The “Halloween Ends” star turned visibly emotional whereas discussing the current controversy swirling around West and his now-deleted post, through which he claimed he was going “dying con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”
“I burst into tears,” Curtis advised Hoda Kotb throughout a “Right now” interview on Monday morning. “I awakened and burst into tears. Defcon 3 on Jewish individuals? What are you doing?
“It’s dangerous sufficient that fascism is on the rise around the globe,” she added. “However on Twitter, on a portal, to pour that in? As if Jewish individuals haven’t had it onerous sufficient? … It was simply abhorrent.”
The actor, whose paternal grandparents and father, actor Tony Curtis, have been Jewish, was among the many first within the leisure business to publicly reply to West’s tweet, saying that his “phrases harm and incite violence.”
“The holiest day in Judaism was final week. Phrases matter. A menace to Jewish individuals ended as soon as in a genocide,” she wrote on Twitter Sunday morning. “You’re a father. Please cease.”
Talking with Kotb, Curtis’ eyes welled up with tears, as she talked about her grandparents, who immigrated to the US from Hungary, earlier than encouraging the musician to “get assist.”
“If we aren’t reacting, who’re we?” she continued. “What does it say about individuals who aren’t reacting? Who awakened and skim that and thought, ‘Oh, what are you having for breakfast?’”
West, who legally modified his identify to Ye final 12 months, has but to publicly reply to the backlash surrounding his troubling social media exercise.
The rapper had been incessantly posting on Instagram since sparking controversy over the “White Lives Matter” T-shirts he displayed throughout a Paris present for his Yeezy trend line.
In a single submit, he insinuated that the rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs was being controlled by Jewish people, leading to Meta, Instagram’s mother or father firm, proscribing his account and eradicating the submit from his web page.
Hours later, West returned to Twitter for the primary time since November 2020.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight however after I get up I’m going dying con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” he wrote on Saturday evening. “The humorous factor is I really can’t be Anti Semitic as a result of black individuals are really Jew additionally You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anybody whoever opposes your agenda.”
The tweet was taken down for violating the corporate’s guidelines with a Twitter spokesperson confirming that his account has since been “locked attributable to a violation of Twitter’s insurance policies.”
Whereas each of his accounts are nonetheless lively, West can now not submit from both Twitter or Instagram. As an alternative, he has moved over to TikTok and YouTube the place he’s nonetheless sharing content material.
Edward Berthelot through Getty Photographs
Curtis’ current feedback arrive amid a rising refrain of individuals from Hollywood and past who’ve expressed concern about West’s tweet.
“Kanye threatened the Jews yesterday on twitter and it’s not even trending,” comic Sarah Silverman wrote on Twitter. “Why do principally solely Jews communicate up in opposition to Jewish hate? The silence is so loud.”
A number of Jewish advocacy teams, together with the Anti-Defamation League, have all labeled West’s remarks as antisemitic and condemned his “harmful” rhetoric.
“Energy. Disloyalty. Greed. Deicide. Blood. Denial. Anti-Zionism. All of those are antisemitic tropes that we break down in our #AntisemitismUncovered Information,” the ADL acknowledged in a tweet. “Many of those myths have influenced [Kanye West’s] feedback not too long ago, and it’s harmful.”
The Black Jewish Leisure Alliance has additionally addressed West’s tweet in a strongly worded assertion launched on Sunday.
“Ye’s current statements concerning the Jewish group are hurtful, offensive, and unsuitable. They perpetuate stereotypes which have been the idea for discrimination and violence in opposition to Jews for 1000’s of years. Phrases like this tear on the cloth of the Black-Jewish relationship,” the assertion learn.
“The Black and Jewish communities should stand collectively by incidents like this to clarify that trafficking in hateful stereotypes is unacceptable and that the phrases of 1 entertainer don’t mirror the views of a complete group.”