Trump-Critic Actress: FBI Told Me To Lock My Account After My ‘White And Privileged’ Tweet
"I'm sorry I was born white and privileged. It disgusts me. And I feel so much shame," Arquette, the older sister of David and Patricia Arquette, tweeted out to her 90,000 followers Wednesday. The actress's assertion of "white guilt" quickly made the rounds online.
Arquette's statement followed a series of tweets condemning President Trump, disavowing patriotism, and calling for stricter gun control. "There will be no ban on assault weapons because our govt is using them against us. #TrumpRaceWar#White Supremacist Terrorism," read a tweet from actress Ellen Barkin that Arquette retweeted Wednesday prior to her "white shame" post. "The president of the United States of America incites racist violence. The end," Arquette tweeted earlier. "I’ll never stand for the flag again," she wrote Tuesday.
The post prompted a number of what she described as "threatening and cruel" responses that alarmed the actress enough to reportedly contact the FBI. The bureau, she says, advised her to "lock up" her account to all but her followers.
"Yes I’m locked to protect myself I was told by FBI to lock it up," Arquette told TheWrap Thursday. "There are toxic and very vicious people on social media. Threatening and cruel," she told the outlet. "I said yesterday the I am ashamed of the color of my skin. I am privileged just because I’m white. I feel shame. Because of all the violence that is happening in America and other racist countries."
"I was not raised to be racist," she added. "In fact my mother took me to Harlem to integrate and all black nursery school when I was 4. I feel truly desolate at the bigotry. and severe racism that we are witnessing in 2019."
One of the women to first publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, Arquette cited "the Boy's Club" as part of the reason she believes she's in real danger. "The Boy’s Club is bigger than it ever [has been], so the attacks are really actually dangerous right now," she said. "But that’s what they want to put me in a state of fear. And I say no. I will not be afraid so I will protect myself and I do have people around me who are ready to protect me if someone goes after me. Don’t f*** with me is where I’m at."
TheWrap reached out to the FBI and Twitter for comment but received no immediate response.
TheWrap quotes a few of the responses to Arquette's post, including one calling her "a patronizing, self-important person" and suggesting she give all her money away if she feels so much guilt and another saying she's a classic example of "wokeness."
Along with accusing Trump of trying to inflame a "race war," Arquette has also condemned the government's "barbaric" treatment of immigrant children and accused the administration of running "concentration camps." "The United States of America is holding babies toddlers and children in barbaric conditions in concentration camps (yes that is what they are) abusing and traumatizing them."
In an interview with The Guardian in May, Arquette described herself as a "take no sh**" kind of person with a "reputation as a troublemaker."
