Joan Rivers is at it again, but this time she is backing down. After an incendiary rant about the Israel-Palestine crisis on Thursday morning, the “Fashion Police” host is taking back her statements and claiming her words were “totally taken out of context.”
“They started it,” Rivers had answered a TMZ paparazzo who cornered her as she got off a flight at Los Angeles International Airport. “We now don’t count who’s dead. You’re dead, you deserve to be dead.” Further inflammatory comments from Rivers included her assessment that “at least the ones that were killed were the ones with very low IQs,” since they did not evacuate when they were told to.
Also read: Joan Rivers Blasts Palestine’s Involvement in Gaza Conflict: ‘They Started It!’
However, she used much more diplomatic words in response to the video being posted online. “I am both saddened and disappointed that my statement about the tragedy of civilian casualties was totally taken out of context,” Rivers said in a statement. “What I said and stand behind is, war is hell and unfortunately civilians are victims of political conflicts.”
Rivers also takes the media to task for choosing to paint her a certain way: “the media, as usual, has decided to only quote the most out of context and inflammatory non sequitur rather than giving an accurate account of what my intentions were behind the statement.”
See video: Joan Rivers Storms Out of CNN Interview: ‘Shut Up!’
However, this is not the first time she’s used strong language to express her opinions on the Middle East crisis. She used similar words in July to put the blame on the Palestinians.
“You’re all insane. They started it!” she told reporters in the July rant. “What are you all saying? They started it! For months this has been going on! How do I know? I have been over there, that’s how I know. And I wish the world would know. BBC should be ashamed of themselves, and CNN should be ashamed of themselves.”
See video: Stephen Colbert Sees No Pro-Israel Bias on CNN’s ‘The Situation Kibbutz’
See Rivers’ full statement following her most recent outburst below:
I am both saddened and disappointed that my statement about the tragedy of civilian casualties was totally taken out of context. What I said and stand behind is, war is hell and unfortunately civilians are victims of political conflicts. We, the United States, certainly know this as 69 years later we still feel the guilt of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The media, as usual, has decided to only quote the most out of context and inflammatory non sequitur rather than giving an accurate account of what my intentions were behind the statement. Along with every other sane person in this world, I am praying for peace.
It is stupid and wrong and I am tired of bearing the brunt of attacks by people who want to sell newspapers or gain ratings by creating a scandal about me that is non-existent.