D.C. councilman apologizes for claiming Jewish financiers control the climate

Snowfall in Washington, D.C.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Snowy weather in the nation's capital has inspired some unconventional meteorology.

Washington D.C. councilman Trayon White Sr. apologized for posting a video in which he pushed a conspiracy theory that the Rothschild family, a prominent Jewish business dynasty, controls the weather. White, a Democrat, took to Facebook on Friday when flakes began to fall, posting a video to his official page that insisted the flurry was more than it appeared, reports The Washington Post.

"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation," White said in the video. "And D.C. keep talking about, 'We a resilient city.' And that's a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful."

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The Rothschilds have been the subject of a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, the Post reports, many of which claim that the billionaire family, along with other Jews, manipulate world events to gain control. White apologized for the video in a statement to the Post.

"I work hard everyday to combat racism and prejudices of all kinds. I want to apologize to the Jewish community and anyone I have offended," he said. "The Jewish community have been allies with me in my journey to help people. I did not intend to be anti-Semitic, and I see I should not have said that after learning from my colleagues."

Read the full report at The Washington Post.

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Summer Meza, The Week US

Summer Meza has worked at The Week since 2018, serving as a staff writer, a news writer and currently the deputy editor. As a proud news generalist, she edits everything from political punditry and science news to personal finance advice and film reviews. Summer has previously written for Newsweek and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, covering national politics, transportation and the cannabis industry.