Ukrainian politician Igor Miroschnichenko has reportedly taken aim at one of his country's most famous, glamorous emigrants: Mila Kunis.
In a recent Facebook post, the lawmaker argued that the Jewish, Ukrainian-born Ted actress, 29, is not a true Ukrainian, calling her a "zhydovka," which translates to "dirty Jewess," a term used since the time of the Holocaust.
Ukrainian Jews subsequently protested the offensive slur — but the government then excused Miroschnichenko's wording, claiming the term isn't necessarily derogatory.
Following that exchange, the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles wrote a strongly worded letter to the Eastern European nation's Prime Minister, imploring him to "speak out against the heinous anti-Semitic slur directed at Ukrainian-born actress Mila Kunis by MP Igor Miroshnichenko."
Written by two rabbis affiliated with the human rights organization, the letter continues: "Mila Kunis' family, like many thousands of other Ukrainian Jewish families, left the Ukraine in the first place because of anti-Semitism . . . Today she is a respected American actress, who is now owed an apology by the Ukraine. It is a tragedy that even after the Holocaust and the demise of the Soviet Union such hatred and anti-Semitism is still a force in the mainstream of your country."
The letter concludes: "[You should] publicly condemn this attack and to take the measures to defeat the xenophobic forces that threaten your democracy."
