For weeks, Amy Schumer has sparked controversy with inflammatory social media posts in defense of Israel. Many online have accused the comedy actress of disseminating harmful propaganda against Palestinian people.
Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., is now speaking out after Schumer posted a video implying the Civil Rights leader would defend Israel’s attacks on Gaza.
Following the events of the Oct. 7 attacks by the political and paramilitary organization Hamas, which oversees the Palestinian territory of Gaza, Schumer posted a series of clips, implicitly footage of the attacks.
In the caption of her post, Schumer wrote, “Hamas don’t want end to occupation […] They want to eradicate Israel […] They’re funded by Iran, who are trying to destroy the peace deal.”
In the weeks following, Schumer posted similar accusatory statements across Instagram and X. This has garnered backlash from the Palestinian community as well as allies and activists speaking out in support of Palestine against Israel’s deadly attacks on the civilian population.
Last week, Schumer posted unsubstantiated claims about Hamas attacks, including sharing an Instagram post from actress Sara Foster that alleges she is in possession of a video of Hamas “ripping out a baby from an alive mother’s stomach, then killing both.”
This story has not been corroborated, nor is there any evidence that such a video exists.
In an article from Oct. 24, Poynter fact-checked many of the most common claims circulating online about the attacks from Hamas, among them the now-infamous allegation that Hamas militants beheaded “dozens” of Israeli babies. This claim has been found to be demonstrably false, although it has been parroted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and many U.S. politicians, including President Joe Biden.
Many X users have called out Schumer for her malicious accusations and conflation of Hamas with Palestine.
In a now-deleted Instagram post from Oct. 24, Schumer shared a comic meant to represent supporters of Palestine, with hyperbolic comments written on their signs, including “Gazans rape Jewish girls only in self defense,” “Stab Jews for Allah,” and “Proud of our rapist martyrs.”
According to a report from FactCheck.org, claims of Hamas militants sexually assaulting Israeli women are largely uncorroborated. The Los Angeles Times quietly removed a reference to rape in an opinion piece from Oct. 9, as there was no evidence for the claim.
However, these accusations have become one of the leading allegations levied against Hamas, and by extension, Palestinian civilians.
Schumer has since apologized for posting the comic, in an Instagram post featuring empty baby strollers with red heart-shaped balloons tied to the handles.
“Hamas terrorists are who I’m talking about. No Gazans. Sorry I posted something that was hurtful to them. I’ll be more careful,” she wrote in the post’s caption. “I love my brothers and sisters in Gaza. I love Muslims. I love everyone.”
Actress Asia Jackson addressed Schumer’s propaganda in a post from Oct. 27.
“It’s so crazy to me how Bella & Gigi had to tiptoe around their statements and then Amy Schumer is like ‘Gazans are rapists’ and will still have a career,” Jackson wrote.
Bella and Gigi Hadid, sister Palestinian-American models, were both subject to brutal harassment following their statements condemning Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians. They faced numerous death threats and their personal phone numbers being leaked online.
By Wednesday, Jackson’s post had amassed over 134,000 likes on X, as well as over 5.1 million views. However, she soon found herself embroiled in a conflict with Schumer, who messaged her directly to confront her about her post.
What a terrible way to wake up pic.twitter.com/oZw0tKXEOt
— Asia Jackson (@aasian) November 1, 2023
“Did something I posted about my people being massacred offend you?” Schumer began.
“The islamophobia and generalization of Gazan people did,” Jackson replied.
In response, Schumer sent several paragraphs of the same kind of malicious accusations against Palestinians that she has been posting for weeks—equating the worldwide protests calling for a ceasefire to “yelling for the murder” of Jewish people.
She then accused Jackson of antisemitism for her support of Palestine.
“How is it antisemitic to call you out for all the racist things you’ve said (since 2015)?” Jackson responded.
Jackson revealed in an Instagram story that in response to this, Schumer blocked her.
In 2015, Schumer was again the subject of controversy for racist remarks, this time against Latino men in her stand-up routines. “Nothing works 100% of the time,” she said at the time, “Except for Mexicans.”
In another stand-up routine, Schumer again made racist comments about Latino men, accusing them unilaterally of being rapists, as she’s done with Palestinian men. Schumer joked, “I used to date Hispanic guys, but now I prefer consensual.”
Schumer later apologized for the joke, saying that it was part of a “dumb white girl character” that she played on stage for comedic value. However, in a now-deleted post on X, she defended the racist jokes—while insisting that she is not a racist.
“I will joke about things you like, and I will joke about things you aren’t comfortable with,” she wrote. “I go in and out of playing an irreverent idiot. That includes making dumb jokes about race.”
In response to the backlash regarding her comments on Palestine, Schumer shared a post on Instagram in which she insists that she isn’t Islamophobic and that she’s “accepting love and feedback.”
“I want safety for Jewish people and Muslims as well,” she wrote. “I want peace. You will never see me wishing harm on anyone.”
Schumer intentionally left comments on her post enabled to encourage an open forum from commenters, the majority of whom condemned her for her comments about Palestinians and her rejection of calls for a ceasefire.
“As a Jewish woman, I find your erasure of Jews calling for ceasefire to be disturbing,” actress Madeline Weinstein wrote in response. “You have a massive platform and are using incredibly dangerous rhetoric that in equating Israel with Jews and criticism of Israeli military policy with anti-semitism, escalates anti-semitism, Islamophobia, anti-Israeli and anti-Arab prejudice.”
In a post on X on Monday, Schumer shared a video of Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he insists that “Israel must exist,” and describes it as “one of the great outposts of democracy in the world.”
Schumer posted the video without comment. As of Wednesday, the post has amassed over 5,600 quote responses.
Most notable among the responses was from Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.
🧵 Amy:
— Be A King (@BerniceKing) November 1, 2023
Certainly, my father was against antisemitism, as am I.
He also believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils.
I am certain he would call for Israel’s bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released… https://t.co/haahcqcuAf
“Certainly, my father was against antisemitism, as am I,” King wrote in her post. “He also believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils. I am certain he would call for Israel’s bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released.”
She also shared a video of an interview with her father in which he urged the U.S. to “unilaterally withdraw” from the Vietnam War.
Bernice concluded: “I know that we can’t afford to diminish & dehumanize each other if we are truly committed to ridding humanity of the Triple Evils & to freedom from oppression for all.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Asia Jackson and Bernice King via email, as well as Amy Schumer’s public relations team.
