In case you were wondering, Russell Crowe's sons probably aren't circumcised.
The Australian-born star voiced his thoughts on the topic through his Twitter account Thursday night, quickly embroiling himself in a firestorm as his comments spread Friday morning.
"Circumcision is barbaric and stupid," Crowe declared. "Who are you to correct nature? Is it real that GOD requires a donation of foreskin? Babies are perfect."
As followers began to tweet Crowe with reasons in favor of the medical procedure, he strongly stood by his opinions, calling one tweeter a "moron" and telling another to "sew up your a--."
Crowe, 47, insisted he was taking a "stand for the perfection of babies."
"I will always believe in God," he tweeted, "not man's interpretation of what God requires."
But things escalated even further when the actor was later accused of anti-Semitism for a tweet he sent to actor-director Eli Roth.
"I love my Jewish friends, I love the apples and the honey and the funny little hats but stop cutting yr babies @eliroth," he wrote.
Roth, 39, jokingly replied, "You didn't seem to be complaining when I was recutting you this afternoon…"
The filmmaker later lashed out at media outlets on Twitter for taking the exchange seriously and labeling Crowe an anti-Semite.
"We are FRIENDS. Friends joke and tease each other," Roth tweeted. "This is SICK."
"Russell Crowe is a great person," he continued. "People are taking a joke to ME on twitter and are using it as an excuse to vilify a good man."
Roth said that "the whole fun of twitter is to have a real, open exchange with fans," and complained that "NOT ONE MEDIA OUTLET CONTACTED EITHER OF US to see if it was a joke."
Crowe later deleted his controversial tweets, which also included his take on abortion ("Abortion should always be a woman's choice, there is no benefit to 'forced' motherhood") and offered an apology.
"This is a great forum for communication," he began. "Like any human have my opinions and you all have yours, thank you for trusting me with them."
"I have a deep and abiding love for all people of all nationalities," he continued in another tweet. "I'm very sorry that I have said things on here that have caused distress."
"My personal beliefs aside I realize that some will interpret this debate as me mocking the rituals and traditions of others," he concluded. "I am very sorry."
Crowe initially stood by his statements, however, saying he "wasn't intending offense" and "certainly wasn't intending to provide fodder for lazy journalists."
"I can't apologize for my heartfelt belief," he said.
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