Jamie Foxx at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festiva. Photo: John Bauld via Wikimedia Commons

It appears that on any given Sunday, someone can spew antisemitism, give a fake apology with no specific clarification, and get away with it.

That shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

For a time, the news about Jamie Foxx was all about his mysterious illness and I was glad to see in a video that he was okay.

Then he made a social media post, stating, “They killed this dude name Jesus…what do you think they’ll do to you??? #fakefriends #fakelove.”

Foxx had an opportunity to clarify that he was talking about Romans and not Jews, but he did not make that clarification.

He issued the trite missive: “I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post. I now know my choice of words caused offense and that was never my intent.”

He now knows? So before, he thought it was a good thing to imply that Jews were coming to betray or kill you?

Some will give him a pass for a fake apology and a fake clarification. Jewish people — and all people who oppose hate — should demand he issue a much more forceful apology and clarification. But that won’t happen because there is a goal to de-escalate tensions, and given the history of Jew hatred, many Jews prefer to turn down the temperature than confront someone with the truth.

As an actor, Foxx was brilliant in Ray, a biopic where he starred as musician and singer Ray Charles. He was fantastic as the star of Django Unchained. His acting right now is not believable.

By mentioning the killing of Jesus, Foxx brought up a trope that could lead to violence against Jews, or the spread of antisemitism.

There are enough antisemites who have come out of the woodwork. We don’t need any more.

Some of Foxx’s friends have defended him, saying they don’t believe he is antisemitic. If that’s the case, he should come out and explain why he understands the implications of his false charge of deicide, and he should explain why that charge is false.

Foxx has chosen not to do that.

It’s true that Foxx has no known history of public antisemitism. But that doesn’t make what he posted acceptable.

We must all answer to the souls of our ancestors and to our future children when we decide how we respond to all forms of hate. Some of us will have to cover our heads in shame, or accept the barest of apologies. But I believe we should demand more.

I cannot answer whether or not Foxx is antisemitic, but his post, with a very flimsy clarification that he is talking about anyone other than Jews, spreads antisemitism.

I’ve interviewed numerous Holocaust survivors who warned me that many more people than I thought hated Jews. With some of the reactions to Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, and now the silence regarding Foxx, the survivors may have been more correct than I thought.

We’ve seen this game before, and sadly, it seems many Jews don’t care if we lose.

The author is a writer based in New York.