Asif Kapadia, the Oscar-winning director of Amyhas said he is “mortified” over the “Ill-judged” sharing of social media posts about the Israel-Gaza conflict.
In a statement, issued after Deadline revealed that he had been removed as a patron of documentary charity The Grierson Trust, Kapadia apologized for his conduct on Twitter (now X).
Kapadia said: “I’m mortified by the hurt and offence that some of my retweets have caused. I now understand that they will be seen by many as antisemitic, or in the case of one even justifying violence. That was not my intention.
“Like many I feel passionate about the fate of the Palestinian & Lebanese people and the suffering they have endured over the years, but I am equally passionate about all anti-racism and condemn all forms of antisemitism. I unequivocally apologise for these ill-judged reposts which were posted in haste with a lack of due consideration.”
Grierson had only announced Kapadia, who helmed Amazon Prime Video’s Federer: Twelve Final Daysas a patron on Wednesday. In a statement announcing its decision to withdraw his patronage, Grierson condemned his X activity as “antisemitic.”
Posts he shared included a cartoon of Benjamin Netanyahu dining at a blood-stained table in the rubble of Gaza, with the caption “kosher” at the top of the image.
Other posts included the image of a scene from Schindler’s List in which Ralph Fiennes’ Amon Göth shoots concentration camp prisoners from a balcony. The image was captioned: “Do you remember this scene from Schindler’s List? The same thing is happening in real time. They are Nazis.”
His Grierson appointment enraged members of the Jewish community. Neil Grant, executive producer of 9/11: Inside the President’s War Roomsaid it had caused “enormous offense.”
Grierson trustees held an emergency meeting on Friday morning and severed ties with Kapadia. In a statement, the organization said: “Since the Grierson Trust announced that Asif Kapadia had been appointed as one of our patrons, some social media posts shared by him have been drawn to our attention which are antisemitic.
“When we made the decision to appoint Mr Kapadia, the board was not aware of these posts, some of which appear to be no longer available, and we are sorry that our due diligence was not thorough enough. The Grierson Trust is deeply committed to promoting both freedom of speech and diversity and inclusion in the documentary industry.
“Whilst we accept and support that everyone has a legitimate right to express their views on controversial issues, this cannot justify racist statements or behaviour. As we have stressed in the past and will continue to uphold, the Trust has a zero tolerance approach to racism of all kinds.”
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