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Actress Selma Blair is facing backlash online after an Islamophobic Instagram comment from last week went viral.
The comment was made in a Instagram video posted by Abraham Hamra a week ago, criticizing U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Cori Bush, D-Mo., for being the only two members of Congress who vote against a measure that would prevent anyone who participated in the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel from immigrating to the US.
Hamra, whose Instagram bio refers to him as a Syrian Jewish refugee and speaker, calls Tlaib a “liar,” a “moron” and a “hateful anti-Semite” in the video and says that “the truth is that Jews have been victims of Arabs, and not the other way around.”
Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in Congress, said the bill It was “redundant with existing federal law.”
“It’s just another GOP bill used to incite anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim hate that makes communities like ours unsafe,” he said.
Blair thanked Hamra in a comment on the video, which was also shared a week ago and has since been removed from the post. NBC News saw the post before it was deleted. It is not clear who removed it.
“Deport all these thugs who support terrorism. “Islam has destroyed Muslim countries and then they come here and destroy minds,” Blair wrote in the post. “They know they are liars. Twisted justifications. May they find their destiny.”
Blair, a avid disability rights activist who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, faced backlash from posters on social media platform X Friday. His account on the platform no longer existed on Friday night.
“Selma Blair going full speed ahead with bigotry and hate speech wasn’t on my 2024 bingo card, but it’s a reminder that the genocide of the Palestinians couldn’t have happened unless lots of ‘ordinary people’ had been supporting their horrible oppression for decades. a user Friday.
Another called Blair for “revealing herself as a raging Islamaphobic bigot.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned Blair and “encouraged her to apologize and engage in dialogue with the American Muslim community.”
“No one is born a bigot, and we should never assume that anyone is doomed to remain a bigot. Based on the hateful and ignorant comments Ms. Blair made, we doubt she ever engaged in meaningful interactions with her Muslim colleagues in Hollywood or other members of the American Muslim community. CAIR deputy national director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.
“We encourage Ms. Blair to apologize and also invite her to engage in dialogue with our community. We also call on Hollywood studios and agencies to stop punishing artists who express support for Palestinian human rights while ignoring the hateful comments from artists who support the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” Mitchell continued.
Other celebrities, including Michael Rapaport and Debra Messing, also commented supporting Hamra’s video on Instagram, but their comments have not been removed.
Blair, who is Jewish, has not yet responded to the backlash. She has been outspoken about her support for Israel since the October 7 attack. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Tlaib was censured by the House in November for her comments and actions regarding the war between Israel and Hamas.