Claudia Oshry Soffer: Instagram's Girl With No Job Apologizes After 'Disgusting' Obama Tweets Resurface, Mother Outed as Anti-Muslim Activist
Instagram star Claudia Oshry Soffer has apologized for offensive tweets she posted when she was 16, which resurfaced Wednesday.
Soffer runs the popular @girlwithnojob Instagram account, which shares viral memes and has 2.8 million followers.
But on Wednesday, Oshry Soffer and her Insta-famous sisters—Jackie, Olivia and Margo—came under scrutiny when The Daily Beast reported their mother is Pamela Geller, a prominent political activist and president of the group Stop Islamization of America (SIOA).
The sisters were accused of hiding their connection to Geller, whose controversial views have been deemed Islamophobic.
After the news of the Oshrys' relation to Geller broke, tweets posted by Oshry Soffer in 2012 also resurfaced. In one, she claimed former president Barack Obama is a Muslim. In another she said, "I can't help but feel like I'm funding terrorism when I take a cab," reports BuzzFeed.
Oshry Soffer apologized for her offensive tweets in a video posted on Instagram Wednesday. She said, "First and foremost, I just need to apologize. Some news broke this morning about who my mom is and then some really disgusting, vile, stupid tweets of mine resurfaced."
"I need to come right out and say how sorry I am. It's not cool, it's not funny. I was a dumb kid. I was 16 and I thought I was being funny and cool on Twitter—and it's not," the social media influencer said.
"I'm not racist. I can't believe I even have to say that," said Oshry Soffer.
"I'm sorry to anyone who read those tweets and had a reaction and was upset, because you're totally entitled to that reaction. It's so important for you to know that's not who I am. And if you give me the opportunity to show you who I am and what I stand for, I would be so grateful. I understand that these things take time and what I did was not OK. I'm so sorry."
In a statement to BuzzFeed Wednesday, Oshry Soffer's attorney said the Instagrammers' beliefs are not the same as their mother's.
"We want to be clear to our audience and fans that our political and cultural beliefs are not anti-Muslim or anti-anyone," the statement said. "Our views are separate from our mother's. Being raised by a single parent, we were taught to make our own choices based on our personal beliefs. We are inspired to think for ourselves and we do. We do not condone discrimination or racist beliefs of any kind."