Jamie Lee Curtis Tears Up While Condemning Kanye West's Antisemitic Tweet: 'Abhorrent Behavior'

Jamie Lee Curtis, Kanye West
Jamie Lee Curtis, Kanye West
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Amy Sussman/Getty; Brad Barket/Getty Jamie Lee Curtis; Kanye West

Jamie Lee Curtis is reflecting on how she "burst into tears" upon reading an antisemitic post on social media from Kanye West.

While promoting Halloween Ends on the Today show Monday morning, the 63-year-old actress told Hoda Kotb that she "woke up and burst into tears" upon reading the since-deleted post from West, 45, in which he wrote, in part, that he was going to go "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."

Curtis, who had responded on social media Sunday, said during the emotional Today interview, "'DEFCON 3 on Jewish people?' What are you doing?"

"I mean, it's bad enough that fascism is on the rise around the world," she told Kotb, 58. "But on Twitter, on a portal, to pour that in? As if Jewish people haven't had it hard enough?"

The actress — whose father, late actor Tony Curtis, was the son of Hungarian-Jewish emigrants — said she "woke up and I thought, 'My grandparents?' " upon reading West's post.

"It's just abhorrent. It's abhorrent behavior. I hope he gets help. I hope his children get help from him. It's terrible," she continued, through tears.

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Touching on what Kotb referred to as "a ton of reactions" to West's post, Curtis said, "And if we aren't reacting, who are we?"

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"What does it say about people who aren't reacting? Who woke up and read that and thought, 'Oh, what are you having for breakfast?' It's a big concern," she added.

In her original response to West's post, Curtis tweeted on Sunday, "The holiest day in Judaism was last week. Words matter. A threat to Jewish people ended once in a genocide. Your words hurt and incite violence. You are a father. Please stop."

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In a now-deleted Instagram post from Friday, West also shared a screenshot of a text exchange between himself and Sean "Diddy" Combs, which allegedly appeared to show West claiming that Combs, 52, was controlled by Jewish people. "Jesus is Jew," he reportedly wrote in the caption.

Instagram restricted the Grammy winner's account and deleted content from his page after he violated the platform's rules and guidelines, according to CNN, although a Meta spokesperson did not confirm to either outlet what content violated their rules.

The American Jewish Committee also called out West's language for perpetuating "anti-Semitic tropes like greed and control," writing in a statement, in part, "Kanye West should figure out how to make a point without using antisemitism. Over the last week, the musician has fomented hatred of Jews."