Comedian Chelsea Handler issued an apology for sharing a video of Louis Farrakhan.
Handler, who is Jewish, posted a clip of the Nation of Islam leader, who has a history of anti-Semitism and homophobia, from The Phil Donahue Show on Instagram last week. In the clip, Farrakhan argued with members of the program’s studio audience over questions about racial prejudice.
“I want to sincerely apologize for posting the video of Louis Farrakhan,” Handler said in a statement to the Daily Beast. “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. I was wrong. It was offensive, and I apologize.”
However, her apology, which was published by the outlet Tuesday, came after she defended the post in an interview on The Last Laugh, a podcast hosted by the Daily Beast’s Matt Wilstein.
“I thought his message was really powerful,” Handler said on the podcast. “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.”
“It was powerful for me the way he spelled it out,” she continued. “That black people don’t have a history of killing white people. 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. It’s not from the black people. It’s from the white people. So, I thought it was powerful. So, whatever, you know, everybody can go f— themselves.”
Handler also defended the post in the comments section after initially facing backlash from other users about her willingness to post the clip, considering Farrakhan’s pattern of anti-Semitic and homophobic commentary. The post was shared or liked by other celebrities, including Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Aniston, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
“Another thing: perhaps Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic views took form during his own oppression,” Handler wrote in defense of the post. “We know now that oppression of one race leads to an oppression of all races.”
She deleted the post days ago without comment.
