John Cusack accused of anti-semitism over deleted tweet

John Cusack has been accused of racism after he re-tweeted an anti-semitic meme, before deleting it 30 minutes later.

The actor blamed the re-tweet on 'a bot', and attempted to apologise for the gaffe, but not before being pulled up on the remark.

Cusack, who almost exclusively tweets about politics, posted the image of a giant hand beneath a Star of David, with the text 'To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize'.

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He then added his own additional comment 'Follow the money'.

The original quote is often attributed to the philosopher Voltaire, but in fact, it was coined by Kevin Alfred Strom, a prominent American white nationalist, neo-nazi and holocaust denier.

After being pulled up on the tweet, Cusack replied: “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.”

He posted another tweet addressing the criticism later, saying: “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.”

However, that he added the 'Follow the money' remark, many found his apology to be problematic.