Kyrie Irving and others have joined the criticism of Van Jones after he suggested on Real Time with Bill Maher that Iran and Qatar are running “a disinformation campaign” that pushes “dead Gaza babies” onto people’s social media feeds.
The CNN contributor, who previously criticized Irving for promoting a movie widely condemned as antisemitic, accused Iran and Qatar of “deliberately trying to divide the West against itself” with a campaign on social media. “If you open your phone, and all you see is dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby, Diddy,” Jones said, to laughs and applause from the audience, as seen in the clip below. “Dead Gaza baby, dead Gaza baby… That’s basically your whole feed.”
Following the airing of the episode, Jones issued an apology on social media. “Yeah, I messed up on this one,” he wrote. “And I’m sorry. I was trying to raise awareness about foreign adversaries creating chaos online—which is undermining democracy everywhere. But what I said was easily misunderstood, and the way I said it was flat-out insensitive. Babies are dying every day in Gaza. Nobody should dispute that fact or make light of it in any way. To the people living in fear and burying family members every day, of all ages—I apologize.”
In a follow-up tweet, Jones admitted that what he said was “insensitive and hurtful,” and said that the “suffering of the people of Gaza—especially the children—is not a punch line.” He added that he’s “praying and working for an immediate end to this war,” and that he’s “truly sorry” for his comments.
But what Jones said, and his subsequent apology, has been met with string criticism. Irving was among those to react to Jones' comments on Real Time. “😑🤦🏾♂️ @VanJones68,” wrote Irving, making his feelings abundantly clear.
Director and musician Boots Riley also chimed in. “It wasn’t misunderstood,” he wrote, quote-tweeting Jones’ first apology. “You are putting forward, on the show and now, that people seeing images of the genocide by Israel that the US is enabling is ‘disinformation’ by Iran and Qatar. One of the most heinous atrocities in our lifetime, and you are providing cover for it.”
YouTuber Ms. Rachel, who makes content for children, also criticized Jones. “How can anyone joke about a parent losing their baby?” she wrote on Instagram. “They aren’t ‘dead Gaza baby’... They have NAMES. That have families who are devastated & grieving. They looked peek a boo & crawled to their mommies & daddies with big gummy smiles. They were their parents hearts, beating outside of their chests.”
Plenty of others have called out Jones for his comments, including Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen, who accused him of spreading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s propaganda. Radio host Peter Rosenberg also joined in on the criticism and called Jones “an utter and complete fraud” who has “constantly” been “on the wrong side of everything.”
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, at least 65,000 Palestinians have been killed between 7 October 2023 and 24 September 2025, and over 167,000 have been injured. The UN also reported that famine was confirmed in Gaza, and almost one in three children is malnourished.
Check out some of the other reactions to Jones below.