John Cusack blames 'bot' after attracting criticism for anti-Semitic tweet

John Cusack has blamed a "bot" for an anti-Semitic tweet that led to backlash from fans.

The High Fidelity star shared a meme of an edited cartoon on Monday by journalist Yashar Ali on Twitter, alongside the caption: "Follow the money".

The illustration features a hand with a Star of David on the sleeve, pushing down a group of people, as well as a Voltaire quote which reads: "To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticise."

After being attacked by his followers, including Ali who called the editing of his original cartoon "disgusting", for sharing the post, the 52-year-old actor deleted his original tweet and insisted he had been duped by a "bot".

"A bot got me," he wrote. "I thought I was endorsing a pro Palestinian justice retweet - of an earlier post - it came I think from a different source - Shouldn't Have retweeted."

The apology didn't go down too well with some though, with one person tweeting that his excuse was "absurd", while another suggested the blaming a bot is akin to claiming to have been hacked.

In a bid to continue explaining his error, John tweeted: "1. it's clear that even if it was Israel's flag & even if you don't have antisemitic bone in your body, it is still an antisemitic cartoon. Because it deploys anti jewish stereotypes in its attacks on Israel, even if those critiques about state violence are legit. 2 I mistakenly retweeted an alt right account I thought was agreeing With the horrible bombing of a hospital in Palestine."

However, many of his followers were unimpressed by his lengthy explanation, with one writing: "John, just stop. Good God."

Following the backlash, the screen star concluded: "While I won't take guff from anyone looking to score cheap shots on a caress mistweet (sic) - good to use my mistake to spread awareness - solidarity and peace to all."