Much of the news today was dominated by crisis and catastrophe, so naturally a number of celebrities took to Twitter to craft their own uniquely inappropriate responses to the day's events. This evening, Bill Maher faced backlash over a tasteless, bizarrely sexist tweet about the Israel-Gaza conflict that referred to Hamas as "dealing w/ a crazy woman." You "can only hold her wrists so long before you have to slap her," he explained.
Dealing w/ Hamas is like dealing w/ a crazy woman who's trying to kill u - u can only hold her wrists so long before you have to slap her
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) July 18, 2014Maher has yet to respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Jason Biggs, who has a habit of tweeting offensive remarks, was criticized for an insensitive joke made shortly after the downing of a Malaysia Airlines jet over Eastern Ukraine, which killed 295 passengers. "Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?" Biggs wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
He eventually apologized, but not before taking umbrage at his critics. "Hey all you 'too soon' a**holes - it's a f***ing joke. You don't have to think it's funny, or even be on my twitter page at all," he wrote. "The idea that I wouldnt have any empathy 4 the victims or their families because I make a joke is absolutely ridiculous. U know that, right? ... Truly - you losers are literally trying to find s*** to get angry about. Channel your issues elsewhere."
Those tweets have also since been deleted, leaving only the following apology:
1). Hey all- ok, so- I am deleting my previous tweets. People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were.
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 20142). This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone-including myself- is sad and angry about it. Sending positive thoughts to the
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 20143). victims and their families. P.S. No one is making me send these tweets- I simply understand that my comments might have come off
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 20144). as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize.
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014Meanwhile, all is quiet on the Rihanna front.