The Hollywood film actor and sometime politician Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged $100,000 to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in the wake of the white supremacist marches in Charlottesville over the weekend. He said, "I know that my contribution can help advance the Center's mission of expanding tolerance through education and fighting hate all over America".
I'm proud to support the @simonwiesenthal Center and I'm donating to help expand their programs to stop hate. https://t.co/wzsc8c8v5W
— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) August 14, 2017
Mr Schwarzenegger released a statement in which he said he was "heartbroken that a domestic terrorist took an innocent life" and condemned the "so-called 'white nationalists'" who are "lucky to live in a country that defends their right to voice their awful, incorrect, hateful opinions".
Mr Schwarzenegger described Mr Wiesenthal, the famed Holocaust survivor and "Nazi hunter", who died in 2005, as a friend and called on Americans to unite against "the hatred we saw this weekend".
"The rest of us must use our voices and resources to condemn hate and teach tolerance at every opportunity," Mr Schwarzenegger said.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which describes itself as "Confronting anti-Semitism, hate, standing with Israel, defending the safety of Jews worldwide, teaching the lessons of the Holocaust", welcomed the donation.
#SWC Commends @Schwarzenegger for Generous Gift to Support Fighting #hate #Bigotry & #Antisemitism #Charlottesville https://t.co/jhqk8NPiM4
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) August 14, 2017
Mr Schwarzenegger's response to the violence in Charlottesville has been compared with that of President Donald Trump, his predecessor as host of the TV show The Apprentice. Mr Schwarzenegger made his donation on Sunday, the day after the worst of flashpoints on the University of Virginia campus, while President Trump did not explicitly condemn white nationalist groups until the following day.
(This story has been updated. We initally described Mr Schwarzenegger as a 'former' actor in error)
