SALON

Monday, Jun 13, 2011 3:14 PM UTC

Russell Crowe’s anti-circumcision rant blows up

The actor calls it "barbaric" and tells Jews to "stop cutting" -- and learns a crucial lesson about Twitter

By

Topics: Anti-Semitism, Movies,

Russell Crowe's anti-circumcision rant blows upRussell Crowe

Maybe a man who’s got a history of phone throwing isn’t the best judge of what’s “barbaric.” But let it not be said that Russell Crowe can’t become a little more civilized.

The Academy Award-winning actor and father of two sons came under fire last week for a rambling series of tweets that kicked off with a declaration that “Circumcision is barbaric and stupid. Who are you to correct nature? Is it real that GOD requires a donation of foreskin? Babies are perfect.”

Predictably, he was deluged with rebuttals from followers, and Crowe, never one to back down from a fight, seemed happy to take them all on. When a user responded that circumcision is “more hygienic and nobody remembers it,” he lobbed back, “Hygienic? Why don’t you sew up your ass then?” Regarding circumcision’s place in the Jewish tradition, Crowe told his followers that “… The Mayans had ceremonial acts too.” And with a direct nod to a famous pal he added, “I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies @eliroth” — a comment that prompted actor/director Eli Roth to jokingly reply, “You didn’t seem to be complaining when I was recutting you this afternoon.”

Crowe — who in the midst of it all also managed to work in a plug for reproductive choice — ended his tirade with a bang, by stating that “I will always stand for the perfection of babies, i will always believe in God, not man’s interpretation of what God requires” and that “if u feel it is yr right 2 cut things off yr babies please unfollow and f**k off, I’ll take attentive parenting over barbarism.”

Yet in the harsh light of hindsight, a whole heap of backlash, and who knows, maybe a little more clarity of thought than when he’d originally been posting, Crowe deleted the offending tweets and issued an apologetic message. “I have a deep and abiding love for all people of all nationalities,” he wrote Friday. ” I’m very sorry that I have said things on here that have caused distress. My personal beliefs aside I realize that some will interpret this debate as me mocking the rituals and traditions of others. I am very sorry.”

Yet as days passed, the controversy — and the public pondering both in the media and the Twittersphere over whether Crowe’s remarks indicate anti-Semitism — refused to go away. Out of context, his remarks about hats and honey seem as dismissive as his comparison of Jewish tradition to Mayan blood ritual seem ignorant. But Eli Roth himself, who is writing and producing  Crowe’s forthcoming “The Man With the Iron Fists,” seems to have taken his friend’s remarks in stride. “We are FRIENDS. Friends joke and tease each other,” he tweeted, adding, “One of the nicest people I have ever been lucky enough to meet and work with. AND RESPECTFUL OF ALL RELIGIONS.” 

It’s entirely possible to respect another’s religion while disagreeing with its practices. And it’s likewise all too easy to say something as a joke to a friend that sounds entirely wrong when it’s addressed to a large group of individuals. Crowe’s goofy comment to Roth was likely, in his mind, just a snap to a buddy. That’s the thing about the medium: It can create the illusion of intimate conversation when in fact you’re broadcasting to the world.

However little offense he may have meant to give — or his friend may have taken — Crowe does seem to have learned a little something this week about the power of social media. It can, in its better moments, make a person consider other perspectives. And the same words, in different contexts, can be used to persuade, to hurt, to misinform, or to make amends. Whatever you think about hot button issues like circumcision, it’s encouraging when we can occasionally stop shouting our own opinions at each other and simply consider how we sound, and take in what others have to say. Who’d have thought that Russell Crowe, of all the random, temperamental people in the world, would be the type to grok that so swiftly?

“This is a great forum for communication,” he graciously wrote this weekend. “I, like any human have my opinions and you all have yours, thank you for trusting me with them.” Whether you agree with his views or not, you’ve got to give the guy credit for being able to know when to apologize, and how to listen. In the morass of Twitter wars and flames that can make the Net feel like a cesspool, Crowe, it turns out,  is anything but barbaric.

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 380 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Loaded terminology like "entitlements" and "welfare" skews the debate and alters America. How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government.
287 points288 points | 63 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
260 points261 points | 10 comments
vote
New Yorker launches tool by Aaron Swartz to protect leaks: Strongbox, co-created by the persecuted late technologist, is an open-source drop box for leaked documents
199 points200 points | 1 comment
vote
Obstruction will ruin the GOP: Playing politics and abusing the system can excite the extremes, but it's a recipe for long-term political disaster
53 points54 points | 8 comments
vote
How right-wingers use semantic tricks to kill government -- "...much of the U.S. economic security support system consists of subsidies for the affluent in the form of tax breaks, like those for private retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s and private employer-provided health insurance."
42 points43 points | 3 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations