Last month, two police officers were shot after responding to a domestic dispute in Harlem. Both Officer Wilbert Mora and his partner, Jason Rivera, have died.
And on Friday, Jan. 28, thousands of officers gathered to attend Rivera's funeral:
#NYPD funeral for slain officer Jason Rivera in NYC.
Some people on social media commented on the gathering of police, including journalist Danny Haiphong, who captioned a photo of the gathered officers, "I'm gonna tell my kids this is what fascism looks like."
I'm gonna tell my kids this is what fascism looks like
Actor Susan Sarandon added, "So, if all these cops weren't needed for CRIME that day, doesn't that mean they aren't needed ANY day?"
It seems Sarandon wasn't really aware of why the officers were all gathered, yet her comments still drew considerable backlash online:
This is what privilege looks like: a wealthy actress, safe in her bubble, mocking heroes & making light of the crisis that cops are battling alongside our communities. NYC is uniting to stop the violence — @SusanSarandon is living on a different planet. https://t.co/U1q0t32TzR
Anyone else see this sickening tweet from Susan Sarandon, shame on her 🤬
Just so we're really clear about this: we Democrats don't want Susan Sarandon. She's not a Democrat and she's not a liberal. She's one of the reasons that we had to endure trump for 4 years and are still having to endure him. She's also an asshole.
Following the backlash, Sarandon apologized in a statement posted on Twitter.
"I deeply regret the meme I recently shared on Twitter that included a photo of Officer Jason Rivera's funeral," she wrote.
"I reacted quickly to the picture without connecting it to a police funeral and I realize now how insensitive and deeply disrespectful it was to make that point at that time," she continued.
"I sincerely apologize to the family of Officers Rivera and Mora for causing additional pain during their time of grieving."
