Haley Joel Osment says he has “no excuse” for calling a law enforcement official a slur for Jewish people after his recent arrest at a popular California ski resort.
The former “The Sixth Sense” child star and brother of actor Emily Osment apologized for “using this disgusting word” in a statement shared with multiple outlets. The 37-year-old “Blink Twice” actor shared his statement hours after police body cam footage of his interaction with a law officer surfaced Thursday evening.
“I’m absolutely horrified by my behavior. Had I known I used this disgraceful language in the throes of a blackout, I would have spoken up sooner,” Osment said in a statement shared with People and TMZ. “The past few months of loss and displacement have broken me down to a very low emotional place.”
Osment can be heard in the police footage chiding an officer from the back of a patrol car. “I’ve been kidnapped by a f— Nazi,” he said, before telling the officer, “You’ll wish you treated me nicer.” Osment later hurls the antisemetic slur — which was bleeped out in the video — at the officer and begins laughing.
“You’re gonna regret this,” Osment later says in the video as the officer parks the patrol car.
But it was the actor who later expressed regret for the incident.
“From the bottom of my heart, I apologize to absolutely everyone that this hurts. What came out of my mouth was nonsensical garbage — I’ve let the Jewish community down and it devastates me,” he added. “I don’t ask for anyone’s forgiveness, but I promise to atone for my terrible mistake.”
Osment’s statement seemed to focus mainly on his use of the antisemitic slur and did not directly address the actor’s arrest earlier this month. A representative for Osment did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment on Friday.
The incident was his latest run-in with law enforcement.
Osment first faced legal troubles in 2006 when he was charged with misdemeanor drunk driving after crashing his car in La Cañada Flintridge. More than a decade later, Osment sparked a police response in 2018 for allegedly making verbal threats to American Airlines staff in the Las Vegas airport after missing his flight.
Los Angeles native Osment is among the thousands of people who lost their homes in the devastating wildfires in January.
In the latest incident, the “Spoils of Babylon” actor was arrested April 8 on suspicion of public intoxication and possession of an unidentified controlled substance at the popular Mammoth Mountain ski resort. The Mono County district attorney’s office on Thursday confirmed to The Times it had charged Osment with two misdemeanors: one for disorderly conduct involving alcohol and the second for possession of cocaine.
Osment is set to be arraigned in July at the Mammoth Lakes branch of the Mono County Superior Court, the district attorney’s office said.
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