Comedian Chelsea Handler apologized for sharing a video of Louis Farrakhan on her Instagram page.
Handler said she didn’t “consider the context” of sharing the video of Farrakhan, according to a report published Tuesday by the Daily Beast. Farrakhan has been widely criticized for making anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks.
When asked if she’d post a video of Hitler, Chelsea Handler wrote “no, because Hitler was responsible for killing millions of lives. Farrakhan is just responsible for his own promotion of anti-Semitic beliefs.” Farrakhan has called Hitler a “great man.” https://t.co/uzx8nWJoB4
— Jewish Journal (@JewishJournal) June 17, 2020
“I want to sincerely apologize for posting the video of Louis Farrakhan,” Handler wrote the Daily Beast in an email Tuesday. “I didn’t consider the context of his anti-Semitic and homophobic rhetoric, that is of course contrary to my own beliefs and values. Part of the process of educating ourselves during this pivotal time is recognizing and working through our mistakes.”
“This was definitely one of mine,” she added. “I was wrong. It was offensive, and I apologize.”
Handler’s post, which she has since deleted, claimed she “learned a lot” from Farrakhan debating the audience on if racism could ever be completely eliminated. (RELATED: Twitter Refuses To Follow Facebook’s Lead In Banning Louis Farrakhan)
The apology comes after Handler defended sharing the video on Monday’s episode of “The Last Laugh.”
“I wasn’t thinking about the anti-Semitic thing, but I don’t want to take down the post because I felt the message was powerful and a lot of people did,” Handler said.
‘I wasn’t thinking about the antisemitic thing, but I don’t want to take down the post because I felt the message was powerful and a lot of people did,’ the actress sayshttps://t.co/H9iPrXRVi0
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) June 24, 2020
“It was powerful for me the way he spelled it out,” she continued. “That black people don’t have a history of killing white power. White people have a history of killing black people, for hundreds of years. Over and over again, we kill black people in this country. So everyone needs to remember where the violence came from.”