Actor Seth Rogen was slammed by Twitter users on Wednesday for mocking a Jewish journalist who wrote an article about the surge in online anti-Semitism after being trolled by thousands of people on social media.
Eve Barlow, a Jewish journalist who frequently speaks out against anti-Semitism on social media, was trolled by thousands of Twitter users who used the hashtag #Fartlow. The hashtag trended on Twitter for over 24 hours.
Barlow wrote an article in Tablet magazine recounting the experience titled, “The Social Media Pogrom: Twitter will not free Palestine, but it will certainly make the world a more antisemitic place.”
Rogen, 39, a noted critic of Israel – in 2020, during a podcast interview Rogen questioned Israel’s existence, saying that the Jewish state “doesn’t make sense” and that he was “fed a huge amount of lies” about Israel during his youth – mockingly replied to Barlow’s post of her Tablet article with a “gust of wind” emoji used to signify flatulence.
Rogen’s post has received over 17,600 likes and has been retweeted over 1,600 times, which has made the harassment directed at Barlow even worse.
Rogen also joked with a Twitter user who said “When Eve Fartlow, We (admit) apartHeid (?)” by replying to his post with “Good idea.”
Many users denounced Rogen for his insensitive attack on Barlow, accusing him of encouraging cyberbullying against Jews.
Former New York City politician Dov Hikind, founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, came to Barlow’s defense, denouncing Rogen’s reply to her post as “pathetic.”
“Seth, how pathetic are you? How desperate are you to be liked by Jew haters that you’re trolling a Jew on their behalf? How shall I say this in words you’ll comprehend? You’re a shanda!” tweeted Hikind. “But you can come pick on me if it’ll keep your creepiness away from Jewish women.”
He added, “To repeatedly spread your Jew-hating peacock feathers to impress people who still hate your Jew-ishness, now that’s a shanda!”
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)