Jamie Foxx says ‘they killed this dude name Jesus’ in post echoing antisemitic tropes
Performer posts statement on Instagram slamming ‘fake friends,’ adding ‘what do you think they’ll do to you?’; post removed after a few hours
Superstar performer Jamie Foxx on Friday posted a cryptic statement online that appeared to echo antisemitic tropes.
“They killed this dude name Jesus… what do you think they’ll do to you?” Foxx wrote on Instagram, followed by the hashtags #fakefriends and #fakelove.
It wasn’t immediately clear to whom Foxx was referring. Jewish deicide, the belief that Jews are collectively responsible for the killing of Jesus, has fueled antisemitism for centuries.
Commentators online linked the post to Jews, with some applauding the rhetoric and others sounding the alarm.
A number of comments compared the posts to antisemitic statements from Kanye West, who now goes by Ye. Foxx and Ye have collaborated on award-winning music.
Foxx, an actor, comedian and singer, shared the statement as both a permanent post in the main grid of his account, and as a temporary “story.”
Foxx also shared a comment from another user that said, “Judas showed his self!!! [Jamie Foxx] know them for what they are.”
The posts were removed from the account, which has 16.7 million followers, after a few hours.
Jennifer Aniston apologized for having initially liked the post, cryptically saying she had not supported it either deliberately or accidentally.
“This really makes me sick. I did not ‘like’ this post on purpose or by accident,” she wrote. “And more importantly I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feeds — I do NOT support any form of antisemitism. And I truly don’t tolerate HATE of any kind. Period.”
Foxx posted the statement shortly before Shabbat, and there was no immediate response from mainstream Jewish groups. A company owned by Foxx did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Foxx was recently released from a hospital after a lengthy stay to treat an emergency medical issue, but has not released details about the condition.
