The phrase “kill all Jews” was temporarily trending on Twitter Friday following vandalism against a synagogue in New York, BuzzFeed News reports.
The phrase circulated after Ilana Glazer, star of Comedy Central sitcom Broad City, cancelled a political event at Brooklyn’s Union Temple on Thursday evening because anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered in a stairwell.
Coverage of the hateful graffiti, which mistakenly claimed that “kill all Jews” was among the anti-Semitic remarks left outside the synagogue, resulted in the phrase appearing in many New Yorkers’ local trending section on Twitter.
The trending topic, according to BuzzFeed News, remained online for roughly 10 minutes, stirring confusion over why the hateful remark was being promoted.
Twitter has since barred the phrase from appearing in its trending section and apologized for the issue in a statement to BuzzFeed News on Friday.
“This phrase should not have appeared in trends, and we’re sorry for this mistake,” a Twitter spokesperson said. “This was trending as a result of coverage and horrified reactions to the vandalism against a synagogue in New York. Regardless, it should not have appeared as a trend.”
The New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force is currently reviewing surveillance video from the graffitied scene as part of an investigation into the incident.
The hateful phrases were discovered less than one week after 11 people were killed by a gunman at a Pittsburgh synagogue.
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H/T BuzzFeed News
