US actor Jason Biggs has apologised for cracking an “insensitive and ill-timed” joke about the latest Malaysia Airlines flight disaster and has deleted all of his offending tweets.
Flight MH17 crashed in the Ukraine after taking off in Amsterdam, bound for the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Reports suggest the jet, which was carrying 295 people including at least 23 Australians, was shot down.
When the American Pie star heard the news he tweeted, “Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles”
He followed with, “In all seriousness, tho (sic)- How do you mistakenly shoot down a commercial plane! Ugh.
“It’s saddest for the victims and their families, obviously. But Malaysia Airlines is apparently a GREAT airline. Gonna be tough to recover.”
The joke sparked a backlash from some of his 446,000 Twitter followers, who blasted him for making light of the tragedy just months after another of the airline’s planes, Flight MH370, disappeared in March.
Biggs initially refused to apologise for his posts, instead hitting back at his detractors and insisting he never meant any harm.
“Hey all you ‘too soon’ a**holes – it’s a f***ing joke. You don’t have to think it’s funny, or even be on my twitter page at all.
“The idea that I wouldn’t have any empathy 4 the victims or their families because I make a joke is absolutely ridiculous. U know that, right (sic)
“Truly – you losers are literally trying to find s*** to get angry about. Channel your issues elsewhere,” Biggs tweeted.
Biggs then took aim at the media for picking up on the tweet.
“Hey tmz – well done on posting my face next to the wreckage of the plane – you might almost think I actually shot it down!”
But about an hour later the 36-year-old posted an apology and deleted all of his previous tweets on the subject.
“People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were,” Biggs wrote.
“This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone – including myself – is sad and angry about it.
“Sending positive thoughts to the victims and their families … my comments might have come off as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize.”
Biggs made headlines earlier this week after he admitted he had drank some of his wife’s breastmilk.
1). Hey all- ok, so- I am deleting my previous tweets. People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were.
— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014
