Goldie Hawn ’Horror Story’ :: Actress Responds to Criticism
Actress Goldie Hawn is making headlines this week after tweeting a photo of herself meeting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who recently approved a bill that bans homosexuality and imposes prison sentences to anyone involved in a same-sex relationship or belongs to an LGBT organization. Hawn, however, took to Twitter Friday to respond to followers who pointed out Jonathan's anti-gay move.
"Met the wonderful President of Nigeria @JGoodlucktweets today in #Davos," Hawn tweeted on Thursday, adding an image of herself shaking hands with Jonathan at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, according to Towleroad.
As Towleroad reports Friday, followers informed the actress of Jonathan's anti-gay views and the bill he recently passed. The original tweet has been deleted and Hawn responded to a number of followers, saying she regrets the photo and is embarrassed.
"Had absolutely no idea. What a Horror! So deeply regret," she wrote to one follower.
"I am deeply embarrassed. Had no idea of this and was not informed! Thank you. This is a horror story!" she tweeted to PFLAG and Jonathan's official Twitter account.
"My god I deeply apologize for not being informed. Horrifying," she said to another.
Hawn has more than 515,000 Twitter followers.
The Huffington Post reports Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who was a member of an LGBT panel at Davos, defended Hawn. He told HuffPo that he spoke with the actress after she posted the photo and that she did not know about Jonathan's anti-gay views and the bill he recently approved.
"President Jonathan of Nigeria is one of the most dangerous anti-LGBT leaders that we have in the world today," Griffin said.
Earlier this month Jonathan signed the "jail the gays" bill into law, which has sparked international outrage. It was reported Wednesday that thousands of protesters threw stones at the Shariah court in a north Nigerian city, urging the judge to quickly convict and execute 11 men who were arrested for being members of LGBT organizations.
Since the bill was approved, dozens have been arrested for being gay in Nigeria. As last reported by the Associated Press, more than 30 people believed to be members of the LGBT community were arrested, with an increasing number coming from the West African country's Christian southern states. Before the bill was signed into law, a high number of gay people were being arrested in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim northern region, where being gay is punishable under Shariah law.
"The arrests are all over. It's no longer just in the north," Ifeanyi Kelly Orazulike, executive director of the Nigeria-based International Center for Advocacy on Right to Health, told the AP. "Police are not telling us what the charges are, and people are scared."