A conservative author and filmmaker recently pardoned by President Donald Trump is under fire after retweeting a Twitter post with the hashtag #burnthejews.
Dinesh D’Souza pleaded guilty to using a “straw donor” in order to make an illegal campaign contribution to a U.S. Senate race in 2012. In 2014, D’Souza entered his plea and was eventually sentenced to five years probation, eight months in a halfway house and a $30,000 fine. On May 31 of this year, President Trump issued a pardon, saying D’Souza “was treated very unfairly by our government.”
Fast forward one month. D’Souza is currently promoting a new film which compares Trump to Abraham Lincoln. In service of that self-promotion, D’Souza retweeted a Twitter post by user @RedManDan84. Twitter subsequently suspended that account, but not before multiple users made screenshots of D’Souza’s retweet:
@DineshDSouza literally retweeted a post with #burnthejews pic.twitter.com/mYr2Vaxt7q
— smoobydog (@smoobydog) June 30, 2018
Twitter user Ryan Adams–who does not appear to be the country singer of the same name–also noted the D’Souza tweet by retweeting the original screenshot captured by Twitter user @smoobydog:
sharp-eyed @smoobydog noticed 30 minutes ago that @DineshDSouza retweeted a tweet with the hashtag #burnthejews pic.twitter.com/KaN30xZcS7
— 🌊Ryan Adams (@filmystic) June 30, 2018
Adams’ post went semi-viral. After that, Twitter more or less collectively leapt into D’Souza’s mentions–accusing him of harboring anti-semitic beliefs.
Really Dinesh? “#burnthejews“? WTF is wrong with you felon?
— Man in Black (@kevinbkelly) June 30, 2018
D’Souza claims it was all a big misunderstanding and that he simply didn’t see the hashtag. He wrote, “I did not see the hashtag. Just trying to share the trailer on social media.”
I did not see the hashtag. Just trying to share the trailer on social media https://t.co/u1Wn2JPKLe
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) June 30, 2018
Comedian Kathy Griffin responded to D’Souza’s explanation with a Nazi joke:
Dinesh D’Souza says he did Nazi that someone used the hashtag #burnthejews in a tweet he retweeted. https://t.co/TAvXnvL36u
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) June 30, 2018
Other Twitter users were similarly unconvinced:
Don’t worry, Dinesh. Everyone accidentally tweets #burnthejews from their abhorrently racist fans. Could happen to anyone. I’m sure it says nothing about who you attract with your messaging. https://t.co/d3ML81eahz
— Be Kind (@LibertyZac) June 30, 2018
2 people the prez has pardoned:
Dinesh, who retweets a fan’s tweet with the hashtag #burnthejews
& @RealSheriffJoe, who referred to his Tent City for Latino inmates as a”concentration camp” & gives interviews to anti-Semitic Holocaust-denying newspaper https://t.co/mtulHabmPC https://t.co/TCENb4iDUp
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) June 30, 2018
As the controversy threatened to die down, however, another Twitter user noticed that D’Souza retweeted another controversial hashtag right after the #burnthejews fiasco occurred. This time, the hashtag read: #bringbackslavery.
How about this one? 🤷🏻♀️ it’s fresh and new and after you claim you didn’t see the Jew one…perhaps after that you’d consider being a tad more careful but I guess that gives ur old racist ass a lot of credit you don’t deserve pic.twitter.com/d9fhUyVJb7
— . (@southernlib) June 30, 2018
[image via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
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