Instagram’s Girl with No Job, Claudia Oshry Soffer, apologizes for past comments about Islam
By
Andrea Park
/ CBS News
Claudia Oshry Soffer, the woman behind the popular Instagram account Girl with No Job, posted a teary apology after old anti-Islamic tweets resurfaced. People unearthed the old tweets after a Daily Beast article revealed that the social media influencer is the daughter of conservative activist and outspoken Islam critic Pamela Geller.
Tech platform Oath also announced that it has canceled Soffer's social media show with her sisters, "The Morning Breath," and will launch an internal investigation into the show, reports the Daily Beast.
Soffer, who has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, looked like she had just been crying in her video. She says, "First and foremost, I just need to apologize. Some news broke this morning about who my mom is and then some really disgusting, vile, stupid tweets of mine resurfaced."
She continued, "I need to come right out and say how sorry I am. It's not cool, it's not funny. I was a dumb kid. I was 16 and I thought I was being funny and cool on Twitter—and it's not." Soffer is 23.
"I'm not racist. I can't believe I even have to say that," she said. "I'm sorry to anyone who read those tweets and had a reaction and was upset, because you're totally entitled to that reaction. It's so important for you to know that's not who I am. And if you give me the opportunity to show you who I am and what I stand for, I would be so grateful. I understand that these things take time and what I did was not OK. I'm so sorry."
The apology was referencing tweets like "I can't help but feel like I'm funding terrorism when I take a cab" in 2014 and one in which she called former president Barack Obama a Muslim in 2012.
Soffer is one of four sisters who have viral social media accounts. The Daily Beast pointed out that the four women seem to take great care to not reveal who their mother is.
Geller is a very controversial activist and provocateur who gained attention when she held a contest in 2015 offering a cash prize for the best drawing of the prophet Muhammad, whose depiction is considered sacrilege by some Muslims. Two gunmen were killed after opening fire on a security officer outside the contest in Garland, Texas. That same year, CBS News reported on a police investigation that alleged a man named Usaama Abdullah Rahim planned to carry out an ISIS-style beheading, possibly of Geller, in response to the contest.
Instagram’s Girl with No Job, Claudia Oshry Soffer, apologizes for past comments about Islam
By Andrea Park
/ CBS News
Claudia Oshry Soffer, the woman behind the popular Instagram account Girl with No Job, posted a teary apology after old anti-Islamic tweets resurfaced. People unearthed the old tweets after a Daily Beast article revealed that the social media influencer is the daughter of conservative activist and outspoken Islam critic Pamela Geller.
Tech platform Oath also announced that it has canceled Soffer's social media show with her sisters, "The Morning Breath," and will launch an internal investigation into the show, reports the Daily Beast.
Soffer, who has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, looked like she had just been crying in her video. She says, "First and foremost, I just need to apologize. Some news broke this morning about who my mom is and then some really disgusting, vile, stupid tweets of mine resurfaced."
She continued, "I need to come right out and say how sorry I am. It's not cool, it's not funny. I was a dumb kid. I was 16 and I thought I was being funny and cool on Twitter—and it's not." Soffer is 23.
"I'm not racist. I can't believe I even have to say that," she said. "I'm sorry to anyone who read those tweets and had a reaction and was upset, because you're totally entitled to that reaction. It's so important for you to know that's not who I am. And if you give me the opportunity to show you who I am and what I stand for, I would be so grateful. I understand that these things take time and what I did was not OK. I'm so sorry."
The apology was referencing tweets like "I can't help but feel like I'm funding terrorism when I take a cab" in 2014 and one in which she called former president Barack Obama a Muslim in 2012.
Soffer is one of four sisters who have viral social media accounts. The Daily Beast pointed out that the four women seem to take great care to not reveal who their mother is.
Geller is a very controversial activist and provocateur who gained attention when she held a contest in 2015 offering a cash prize for the best drawing of the prophet Muhammad, whose depiction is considered sacrilege by some Muslims. Two gunmen were killed after opening fire on a security officer outside the contest in Garland, Texas. That same year, CBS News reported on a police investigation that alleged a man named Usaama Abdullah Rahim planned to carry out an ISIS-style beheading, possibly of Geller, in response to the contest.
Andrea is an entertainment producer at CBSNews.com
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