LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Russell Crowe apologized Friday after an apparent anti-circumcision tirade on Twitter, as a friend he was exchanging tweets with defended him. While the friend said the remarks had been blown out of proportion by journalists, the Oscar-winning actor took down a series of entries on his Twitter feed from Thursday, and said he was sorry to anyone he had offended. “I have a deep and abiding love for all people of all nationalities, I'm very sorry that I have said things on here that have caused distress,” he wrote on the microblogging website. “My personal beliefs aside, I realize that some will interpret this debate as me mocking the rituals and traditions of others. I am very sorry.” In the original tweets, reported by the Hollywood Reporter among others, he wrote: “Circumcision is barbaric and stupid. Who are you to correct nature? Babies are perfect.” But Jewish film director Eli Roth, with whom he had been exchanging tweets, came to his defense, saying Crowe was “one of the nicest people I have ever been lucky enough to meet and work with. and respectful for all religions.”
