Actor John Cusack retweets blatantly anti-Semitic post—then botches the apology with confusing follow-up tweets

Actor John Cusack shared a severely anti-Semitic post on Twitter on Monday, and in 

the face of backlash offered some confusing explanations and half-apologies for it.

The tweet was a cartoon showing a large hand, with the arm covered by a sleeve that 

had a Star of David on it, appearing to press down on a group of people.

It included a quote: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not 

allowed to criticize." It was falsely attributed to Voltaire, even though it was actually 

spoken by white nationalist Kevin Alfred Strom.

This is disgusting pic.twitter.com/4b2RlPrNfL

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 17, 2019

Cusack retweeted the post and added his own comment: "Follow the money." 

The hours of tweets that would follow highlighted just how bad Cusack is at using 

Twitter. Some of his jumbled, nearly unintelligible replies included:

Blaming the tweet on a "bot": "A bot got me- I thought I was endorsing a pro 

Palestinian justice retweet - of an earlier post - it came I think from a different source 

- Shouldn't Have retweeted -"

Not making the connection between the Israeli flag and Jewish people: "Why I 

delete and apologized - bubba thought it was state flag- & was responding to that 

flag being used to excuse bombing of a hospital"

Acknowledging the anti-Semitism but still saying the cartoon made a good 

point: "it's clear that even if it was Israel's flag & even if you don't have antisemitic 

bone in your body, it is still an antisemitic cartoon. Because it deploys anti jewish 

stereotypes in its attacks on Israel, even if those critiques about state violence are 

legit"

Reverting to the "I wasn't paying attention" defense: "I thought someone was 

agreeing with a tweet - retweeted without really looking at it - bubbah"

And, eventually, an odd exchange with The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh, who 

discovered today that Cusack had him blocked on Twitter: