Halle Berry was at the centre of an anti-semitic storm last night. The Oscar-winner made a Jewish joke while taping The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Miss Berry – who has previously lashed racism in Hollywood – was on the show to promote her latest movie ‘Things We Lost in the Fire.’ And she was showing Jay and his audience images of herself on her computer using a programme which distorts images like a carnival fun-house mirror.
One audience member said: “She introduced the first photo by saying, ‘Here’s where I look like my Jewish cousin!’ – it was a picture of her with a huge, distorted nose.
“No one laughed, and Jay nervously said, ‘I’m glad you said that and not me’. “When the show aired, they cut out her ‘Jewish’ comment and added a laugh track to the bit.”
Another guest in the audience added: “If you watch the clip, you can see Halle saying the word ‘Jewish,’ though obviously there is no audio. “NBC covered her a**.
“Ms. Berry should know how unbelievably inappropriate her comment was. She should be ashamed of herself.” The actress – who is 4 months pregnant with her first child by boyfriend Gabriel Aubry – made a tearful apology for her remark.
She said: ” I so didn’t mean to offend anybody – and after the show I realised it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did. “What happened was I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. “We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said ‘That could be your Jewish cousin!’ “And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn’t mean to offend anybody. I didn’t. I didn’t mean any harm.”
And she added: ” It was just a light-hearted segment that was meant to make fun of myself. “There was a picture where I said I looked like Monica Lewinsky and one where I said I looked like Jay. “It was just supposed to be a silly segment. I am so sorry, and I apologise.” Source
