ActorTara Strongwill be recast from the independent animated show Boxtown. This comes as her recentTwitteractivity sparks controversy, particularly her liking of a tweet that equated all Muslims to Hamas and ISIS, and also read, “Islam is a real, clear and present danger.”
The Boxtown team hasn’t explicitly confirmed why it has decided to part ways with Strong, but it is widely assumed to be related to this Twitter controversy. Strong has since unliked the tweet, saying that she only liked it for its condemnation of Hamas, and hadn’t read the full post.
“We will be recasting the role of Bill (previously played by Tara Strong),” writes the Boxtown team from its Twitter account. “The Boxtown team is a diverse team of all stripes. Ms. Strong was fully paid for her work. It’s very disappointing that some people continue to spread misinformation and hatred. We do not stand for hatred in any of its forms.”
Strong responded to the statement, saying that she wasn’t forwarned of her role being recast.
“Just found out on twitter! This is what happens when you help fans get shows made I guess,” writes Strong. “Fired for being Jewish. Glad I helped you get your kickstarter money. Please lose my email address & pray for my family in Israel and in Gaza.”
One of the show’s writers, Spencer Rothbell, defended Boxtown from the claim that Strong was “fired for being Jewish.”
“The other main character is voiced by a jewish person (alex hirsch), the cowriter of the pilot (me) is a jew too…try again! [sic],” says Rothbell. “I had nothing to do with her apparently being recast but this is an absurd claim to make.”
Strong liking - and later unliking - an Islamophobic tweet was not the only Twitter activity to be called out by fans. Over the past few days, she has also retweeted and liked posts that are critical of those joining pro-Palestine marches around the world. In one instance, she has retweeted a post that includes footage of Canadians chanting “free Palestine”. The tweet makes the claim that the people in the video are in support of “terrorism, beheadings, kidnappings, rape, and the execution of hostages,” implying those who are in support of Palestine and supportive of Hamas. No such evidence exists in the video, with demonstrators solely supporting Palestine.
She also came under fire for sharing a screenshot from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), purporting that Hamas would take over the world. MEMRI has previously faced allegations of mistranslating Arab media hosts and guests to portray them in a negative light. It’s not clear if the quote is genuine. Some Twitter users took Strong’s sharing of the screenshot to be her fearmongering about Islam as a whole, a claim she has denied.
Strong has not made any further comments on the matter, and Boxtown is yet to open auditions for the role of Bill.
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