Halle Berry Apologizes for Jew Joke

Posted on October 25, 2007 at 12:50 pm (PST)

Halle Berry made a joke on the October 19 taping of The Tonight Show that some called anti-Semitic. Halle was promoting her new movie Things We Lost in The Fire and was using her laptop to show Jay distorted pictures of herself. Hilarious, right? Page Six says:

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 said, ’I’m glad you said that and not me.’ When the show aired, they cut out her ’Jewish’ comment and added a laugh track to the bit."

A very tearful Halle Berry contacted Page Six to set the record straight:

"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.

Last night Halle Berry attended the London premiere of her new movie Things We Lost in the Fire, and she brought along two big bouncing peace offerings. Let me just say on behalf of everyone who might have even been the slightest bit offended by her joke, apology accepted, times two.