Amber Tamblyn Criticized For Tweet About “Hasidic Community”

Amber Tamblyn is receiving backlash for generalizing the Hasidic community on Twitter.

AMBER TAMBLYN RECEIVING BACKLASH DUE TO TWEET

The former Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants actress first wrote about an instance in which “a Hasidic man in a grey van” honked at her while she crossed the street with her baby in a stroller in a crosswalk, and eventually bumped the stroller with his car.

“If anyone in Brooklyn near the intersection of Washington Ave and Atlantic Ave just saw a Hasidic man in a grey van try to hit a woman and her baby in a stroller as she crossed a crosswalk, honking and touching the stroller with the car’s bumper, please DM me,” she tweeted. “That woman was me.”

This first tweet received a lot of support from fans and followers, but her next one got some backlash. “Thank you everyone for your kind words of support today. We are fine. But this is not the first time a man from the Hasidic community in NYC has attempted to harm me or other women I know. Any woman riding a bike through South Williamsburg can attest. I hope this guy is caught,” she said.

Some people took issue with her reference to the Hasidic “community” instead of the individual. “Hey @ambertamblyn this seems really scary! Unfortunately, linking it to a whole group that already has a hard time is also scary. The trouble is referencing a ‘community’ versus individuals. Note the ‘they’ versus ‘our’/’us’ convo that has ensued. Please consider. Best wishes 💚,” said one Twitter user.

“I follow you on here and fb but like…I hope you see how cringeworthy that kind of comment would be about *any* other ethnic / religious group. I have issues with the restrictions in Hasidim and Orthodoxy but to make such sweeping generalizations….cmon. Let’s do better?” wrote another.

Tamblyn, who is married to David Cross who was raised Jewish, defended herself by replying to a man who claimed that he too had been targeted by Hasidic Jews. “I’m so sorry to hear this, Benjamin. And I completely agree with you here and will not be silenced or bullied or intimidated by anyone who wants to twist my words into anything other than what it is,” she said.

Later she added another message: “I’ll say this once. To anyone suggesting I’m anti-Semitic for identifying a man as Hasidic who hit my daughter’s stroller in a crosswalk with a car then rolled his window down, wagged his finger and told me ‘Watch where you’re going’: I will not be bullied or intimidated by you.”