Hollywood actor Jim Carrey has blamed US president Donald Trump for inciting hate crimes like Friday’s Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks.
50 people were killed and another 50 were injured when a gunman opened fire at the Deans Ave and Linwood mosques during Friday prayers.
Carey posted a self portrait to Twitter the day after the attacks, saying “My heart is with you New Zealand – my tears are for all of us.”
But his second tweet two days later was fuelled with anger, and was accompanied by a drawing depicting Trump with a swastika on his head.
“Innocent people are now being slaughtered, families ruined and children’s lives destroyed. All in his name,” he wrote.
“If the Craven Republican Senate allows this vile miscreant to continue encouraging divisiveness, the “Trump Presidency” will become an EXTINCTION LEVEL EVENT.”
The alleged gunman named the US President in the lengthy manifesto he released prior to the killings, hailing him as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”
Trump’s anti-Muslim stance is well documented. One of his first acts after taking office was to sign an executive order to put a travel ban in place for a number of predominantly Muslim countries.
During his 2016 presidential campaign he told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that “Islam hates us,” and in the months prior, he told Fox news that Muslims were “sick people.”
Watch: Trump says “Islam hates us.” Article continues below.
When news of the shootings broke, the President tweeted a link (which he has since deleted) to an interview he’d given with alt-right news site Breitbart. The site, which was once run by his former chief strategist Steve Bannon, has been criticised for promoting anti-Muslim sentiment and white nationalism.
He later tweeted “Just spoke with Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, regarding the horrific events that have taken place over the past 24 hours. I informed the Prime Minister that we stand in solidarity with New Zealand – and that any assistance the U.S.A. can give, we stand by ready to help. We love you New Zealand!”
But he fell short of calling the massacre an act of terrorism.
When asked, in response to the attacks, if he saw white nationalism as a threat around the world, Trump responded “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people.”
News outlets in the States have been quick to ask why the President won’t denounce white supremacy and Islamophobia in the wake of the attacks, especially when other world leaders have.
The Late Show host Stephen Colbert went a step further, calling the President “anti-Muslim.”
Watch: Stephen Colbert slams Trump in the wake of the Christchurch terror attacks. Article continues below.
Trump has taken to Twitter to respond to the criticism.
“The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand. They will have to work very hard to prove that one. So Ridiculous!” he wrote.
One anti-Trump account posted, in response to his tweet, “50… people died this weekend and you found a way to make it about you. What a…disgrace.”
“My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques,” the President tweeted the day after the massacre.
“49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all!”
Actress and long-time activist Mia Farrow was quick to respond. “As the President of the United States, one of your first acts was to ban Muslims,” she tweeted back to him.
“Your hateful, anti-Muslim, anti refugee words are heard around the world and can inspire the very worst in humans. You are not blameless in this slaughter.”
