Jason Biggs Apologizes: Actor Didn’t Mean For Tweet To Be ‘Misinterpreted’
Actor Jason Biggs has apologized for a series of controversial tweets he sent out earlier this week that joked about Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, which was shot down by a missile as it flew over Ukraine.
But Biggs didn’t get out the apology until after he had scolded his critics. According to a recent report from The Inquisitr, the 36-year-old Orange is the New Black actor initially tweeted the following after news broke that the plane had crashed:
“Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?”
Biggs followed that up by questioning how someone could “mistakenly shoot down a commercial plane.” He then upset more people with this tweet:
“It’s saddest for the victims and their families, obviously. But Malaysia Airlines is apparently a GREAT airline. Gonna be tough to recover.”
As soon as the criticism began, Jason Biggs defended his tweets and attacked those who were angry at him, saying it was a “joke.”
“You don’t have to think it’s funny, or even be on my twitter [sic] page at all,” he wrote.
Biggs then recanted all of his tweets and issued an apology, saying that he didn’t intend to offend anyone, according to a report from CNN.
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, 2014
2). 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, 2014
3). 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, 2014
4). as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize.
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014
TMZ later caught up with Biggs, who reiterated that he was sorry to those who were offended by his joke.
“For everything that’s out there, people are going to have any range of a reaction,” he added. “You can’t please everybody, I guess.”
The reporter then asked Biggs if people would accept his apology and if they would also understand that humor can shed light on a tragic time.
“The bottom line is that it’s a horrible thing that happened, and I don’t want it to be misinterpreted that I joked at their expense,” he responded. “If I did that, I do apologize.”
Biggs added that the plane crash is “a horrible thing,” and now that he’s apologized, he hopes people will take their minds off of his ill-timed tweets.
“I just hope that people can now direct their attention to stuff that seems a bit more important and relevant,” he said.
This is not the first time Jason Biggs has made a joke about a Malaysian Airlines plane. People reports that, back in March, the actor linked the missing flight MH370 to The Bachelor.
“Nikki is looking for Juan Pablo to say ‘I Love You.’ She’d have better luck looking for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. #TheBachelor,” Biggs wrote at the time.
[Image credit: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images via Mashable]
