As the University of California Berkeley panicked, Hollywood celebrities like Sarah Silverman and Debra Messing were busy Tweeting out their support for the “anti-Fascist” rioters that disrupted a Milo Yiannopolous speech by attempting to burn their campus to the ground.
Joining the chorus was filmmaker Jodd Apatow who Tweeted a much stronger laudatory message for Berkeley’s anti-free speech arsonist squad.
It’s not clear what Apatow meant by “what’s at stake,” or whether he was insinuating that protests across the country could grow violent, and President Trump’s supporters could soon find themselves on the receiving end of bricks, rocks and fireworks, like the ones fired at Yiannopoulos’ audience.
Apatow must have realized his mistake because he quickly tried to shove the Tweet down the memory hole, but the Internet, unfortunately, is forever.
Once fans noticed, Apatow claimed that he deleted the Tweet because it was “vague,” and that he didn’t support violence.
I deleted my tweet because it was vague. I never support violence. I do support peaceful protest against hateful people and awful ideas. https://t.co/wT3B11pelW
— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) February 2, 2017
The rest of social media remained unconvinced.
Sorry we peasants mistook your support of violent protest as supporting violent protests… https://t.co/qFiJUnARgu
— Ryan Frohock (@FrohockRyan) February 2, 2017
"Vague." Liar. We know what you said, and so do you. https://t.co/furKuGhA5s
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) February 2, 2017
Then actually condemn those who are committing a whole hell of a lot of violence in the name of your mutual cause. #SilenceIsConsent https://t.co/J0x3w6HNp0
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) February 2, 2017
The follow-up Tweet is now buried under a flurry of retweeted news articles.
