Goldie Hawn ‘devastated’ over tweet praising anti-gay leader
By Nick Levine
Goldie Hawn has revealed she is “devastated” over the offence she caused by posting a tweet that appeared to praise anti-gay Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan.
The Oscar-winning actress met the Nigerian President when they both attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this week. She later tweeted a photo of herself shaking Jonathan’s hand and described him as “wonderful”.
Her Twitter followers quickly questioned her remarks, pointing out that the politician recently passed a law known as ‘Jail All The Gays’. Under the new law, Nigerians face up to 14 years in prison for being gay, whether or not they have sex.
Hawn later apologised for the tweet and has now discussed the controversy in more detail.
“First of all, it had every right to cause an uproar. I had no idea,” she told the Huffington Post earlier today (January 25) in a video interview, explaining that she “literally hadn’t looked at the news” because of her busy work schedule.
“I had zero ideas what his policies were or what he did. I must admit that I’m not tuned into Nigeria. My head’s down looking at things I’m doing, but [that’s] no excuse. However, when I discovered it, I was absolutely appalled… I was devastated.”
“Basically this has nothing to do with my philosophy,” Hawn added, before describing Jonathan’s anti-gay legislation as “more than ridiculous, it’s barbaric”.