Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis is being slammed on Twitter over a detail in the background of a picture she posted online.
The actress shared a photo of her home office – which showed a picture on the wall of a seemingly nude child in a box.
The 64-year-old Halloween star – who contracted Covid after attending the Golden Globes – posted the photo on Instagram (which has now been deleted) and Facebook, to show off the “beautiful Pollack chairs” in the centre of the image, New York Post reports.
“OK. This is a weird post. But I have Covid, so f**k it. During one of the SAG nomination panels for @everythingeverywheremovie I told the story of how I ended up with my office furnished with my beautiful Pollack chairs from that movie,” Curtis wrote.
However, many people weren’t focused on the chairs, instead looking at the strange artwork.
US lawyer and right-wing activist Rogan O’Handley took shots at Curtis in a tweet, which has now had over three million views.
“Five days ago Hollywood has-been Jamie Lee Curtis posted a vaccine ad for Pfizer on Instagram. Three days ago she posted an extremely disturbing picture she has in her home of a child stuffed in a suitcase. We have serious questions,” Mr O’Handley wrote, in a retweet of another right-wing influencer.
“Hollyweird strikes again,” Illinois politician Jack Lombardi II said.
“What the actual f**k,” added another US politician Scott Stephenson, from Washington state.
A conservative radio host went so far as to compare the actor to the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who was also found to possess explicit art.
“Why does Jamie Lee Curtis have a picture of a naked child stuffed inside a suitcase on her wall,” broadcaster Stew Peters asked. “Strong Epstein vibes.”
The image in question was snapped by photographer Betsy Schneider, who, notably, was a former assistant to famed photographer Sally Mann.
Curtis issued an apology on Thursday afternoon, offering a bit more context to the artwork.
“Last week I posted a picture of some chairs that included a photograph on the wall by an artist that was gifted to me 20 years ago. I understand it has disturbed some people. As I have said, I am a truth-teller – here’s the truth,” wrote the actress. “It’s a picture of a child, taken by her mother, of her playing in their backyard in a tub of water. Nothing more or less.”
“I took down the post because I didn’t want to keep something up that upset anyone,” continued Curtis.
The star initially said she wanted to share a picture of her office with the public – in the interest of transparency, seemingly, though it’s not entirely clear from the caption.
“I mentioned if people followed me, that was not a cheap trick to try to get people to boost my numbers, but I couldn’t figure out how else to get the picture out into the world, that I would post a picture of [the chairs] on my IG in my offices for @comet.pictures,” Curtis had originally said of her mid-century office set.
“I am a truth-teller so here you go.”
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been reproduced here with permission
Originally published at www.news.com.au