Mila Kunis was targeted in an anti-Semitic Facebook rant posted by a politician from her native country Ukraine.
Ukrainian lawmaker Igor Miroshnichenko posted a rant on Facebook which called out Mila Kunis for not being a real Ukrainian.
TMZ reported that Miroschnichenko called Kunis a “zhydovka” which roughly translates to “dirty Jewess.”
The term has been used against Jewish people as a racial slur since the Holocaust and has several Jewish organizations up in arms about the Facebook post.
Global Jewish human rights organization The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles quickly came to the actress’s defense by writing a letter to the Ukrainian prime minister.
The letter expressed the organization’s “outrage and indignation” over the use of the racial slur and demanded that the lawmaker gives Mila an apology.
“The last time this term was used in any official way was during the Nazi occupation, when the Jews or ‘Zhyds’ of Kiev were ordered to convene in preparation for their mass murder at Babi Yar,” said Eduard Dolinsky, the director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee. “The Justice Ministry and politicians should adjust their definitions and language according to what Ukrainian Jews consider offensive, and we find that word ‘zhyd’ to be just that.”
The successful “Ted” actress just recently came out about her past in Ukraine earlier this year and she has already become the target of racial slurs.
“My whole family was in the Holocaust,” she revealed. “My grandparents passed and not many survived. After the Holocaust, in Russia you were not allowed to be religious. So my parents raised me to know I was Jewish.”
It also appears that the “Sexiest Woman Alive” according to Esquire Magazine isn’t really new to being surrounded by anti-Semitism.
“When I was in school you would still see anti-Semitic signs,” she continued as she opened up about her past. “One of my friends who grew up in Russia, she was in second grade. She came home one day crying. Her mother asked why and she said on the back of her seat there was a swastika.”
Luckily for Kunis, she escaped the country that she believed didn’t want anything to do with her kind when her parents moved to the U.S when she was only seven.
Unfortunately, the power of social media has still allowed the harsh feelings to reach across the vast seas and still seek Ashton Kutcher’s new girlfriend as a target.
“The temperature around this discussion is rising,” Dolinsky added before saying that the Ukrainian community is “highly concerned” by how “anti-Semitic speech is becoming more prevalent in Ukraine, especially online.”
Ever since the Facebook status was posted a petition was started by Jewish activists to prevent right-wing nationalists from using the slur “zhyd” or “zhydovka.”
Unfortunately, the petition has already failed according to the Times of Israel as other sources from Ukraine have already stepped forward to defend the lawmaker’s Facebook attack.
According to the sources the term is simply used as another word for “Jew” and was not being used a slur or to be derogatory to the 29-year-old actress.
However, the ministry has acknowledged the fact that even the world “Jew” shouldn’t be used in official government communications.
The Meg from “Family Guy” voice actress has not responded to the comments yet, and it isn’t certain if she will take the time to address the slur since so many organizations are already speaking up in her defense.