The writer of the feel-good anti-racism Oscar contender Green Book deleted his Twitter after anti-Muslim comments he made on the platform resurfaced.
In the tweet, Nick Vallelonga said that he saw Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers, a debunked myth also spread by Donald Trump. The tweet was shared by producer Jordan Horowitz, who noted that Green Book's lead Mahershala Ali is a Muslim in denouncing the message.
"Nick Vallelonga wrote Green Book," he wrote. "My industry just gave him a Golden Globe for writing. This remains on his timeline. Mahershala Ali is a Muslim, and a beautiful, generous and kind man. This is all just too disgusting."
It's one of several controversies surrounding the movie. In the wake of its Golden Globe wins and Oscar buzz, past actions of its creators have bubbled up to the surface. Director Peter Farrelly was forced to apologize after it was revealed that he used to flash his penis at cast members as a joke. Farrelly, who up until Green Book was known as a maker of juvenile comedies, defended his practice in articles from the '90s and explained the ways that he would set people up to look at his new watch or belt buckle before exposing himself.
Farrelly copped to the bad behavior and noted that it makes him uncomfortable to remember it in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.
"I was an idiot. I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I'm embarrassed and it makes me cringe now," he said. "I'm deeply sorry."
