Halle Berry apologises for making anti-Semitic joke on US TV
HALLE BERRY WAS last night apologising for making an apparent anti-Semitic joke while taping the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The Oscar-winning star, who appeared on the show to promote her movie Things We Lost in the Fire, was showing Leno and his audience images of herself on her computer using the Mac programme Photo Booth, which distorts images like a circus fun-house mirror.
According to one audience member, '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 remarked, 'I'm glad you said that and not me.' When the show aired, they cut out her 'Jewish' comment and added a laugh track over it.'
Halle, who is four and a half months pregnant, told the NY Post: 'I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realized 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 [of the big-nose picture], '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.'
She added: 'It was just supposed to be a silly segment. I am so sorry, and I apologise.'
