Zahra Schreiber has made her first public statement since she was released by WWE last week in the wake of some contraversial social media posts from a few years ago coming to light. Schreiber had made posts on Instagram back in 2012 that were Nazi-themed and included swastikas, which she had defended in a variety of ways. There had also been comments she made on Twitter about African-American parents and the African-American character of Tiana in Disney’s The Princess and The Frog that were said to be racist in nature. The pictures had been deleted shortly after the story surfaced last weekend, with WWE cutting her loose on Tuesday.
Schreiber posted the statement to her (now private) Instagram, which you can see belowr:
“Let me start this off by saying how grateful I am and how fortunate I feel to have had my time with WWE. It truly was my dream job. Last week WWE made a decision to release me from my contract due to posts I made on social media years ago, long before I was ever employed by them. I understand why that decision was made, but it broke my heart and my spirit. I don’t want my mistakes to reflect on WWE or how incredible they are as a company. The responsibility is my own…
Now, I want to take the time to apologize to everyone who was offended by my posts. I am so sorry. I would like to make it very clear I am in no way, shape or form an anti-Semite, nor do I condone anti-Semitism. If one were to have looked deeper into my post, one would have noticed that also in the photo was Marlene Dietrich. Marlene was a Polish actress who opposed Nazism and fought for the oppressed during WWII. To me the photos and relics were nothing more than a story. I now see it was insensitive of me and in poor taste, which is why I had attempted to delete them long ago.
On an aside, a family member of mine took part in the White Rose Movement (Germans trying to end Nazi domination), which is where my interest in the Holocaust actually stemmed from. Also, documented deeper on my Instagram from years ago are photos of me at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany, and I noted there how disturbed I was by the entire place. Unfortunately, social media rarely notices positivity, and can be an evil place where opinion is easily manipulated to fit the circumstance.
I take full accountability for the things I did post, but those out there who are creating Twitter exchanges that never happened or have manufactured other conversations that never took place really need to check themselves and realize how much harm they are actually doing.
Everything I’ve worked for and dreamt of is gone. In an instant, I lost it all. But I can’t let this define my life. I know who I am as a person. I’m as human as anyone else. I’ve made mistakes like we all do. I hope those I’ve offended can forgive me. All I can do now is learn and move forward trying to be better every day.”
