Hollywood Actor Faces Backlash for Cracking Malaysia Airlines Joke After Jetliner Goes Down (UPDATE: He's Apologizing)

Actor Jason Bigs jokingly asked his roughly 440,000 Twitter followers on Thursday if they were interested in buying his “Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles” shortly after one of the airline’s 777 jetliners -- Flight MH17 -- went down in Ukraine.

Biggs was met with outrage from people who claimed he made the joke “too soon” after the tragedy, but the actor was immediately defiant and defended his right to tell an edgy joke.

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 18: Actor Jason Biggs speaks at the 'Word For Word' author event with Jason Biggs and Jenny Mollen on June 18, 2014 in New York, United States. Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Obviously, Malaysia Airlines has been in the headlines lately as one of its planes remains missing and now another jetliner carrying 295 people was reportedly shot down on Thursday. That’s the context behind Biggs’ joke.

"Anyone wanna buy my Malaysian Airlines frequent flier miles?" he joked.

In all seriousness, tho- HOW DO YOU MISTAKENLY SHOOT DOWN A COMMERCIAL PLANE?! Ugh.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

It's saddest for the victims and their families, obviously. But Malaysia Airlines is apparently a GREAT airline. Gonna be tough to recover.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

When he started catching heat for the joke, Biggs lashed out at his critics.

"Hey all you 'too soon' a**holes- it's a f***ing joke. You don't have to think it's funny, or even be on my twitter page at all," he wrote.

"The idea that I wouldnt have any empathy 4 the victims or their families because I make a joke is absolutely ridiculous. U know that, right?" Biggs tweeted, adding "Truly- you losers are literally trying to find s**t to get angry about. Channel your issues elsewhere."

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UPDATE: Biggs deleted his tweets and apologized for his "ill-timed" tweets on Thursday after being defiant at first.

1). Hey all- ok, so- I am deleting my previous tweets. People were offended, and that was not my intent. Sorry to those of you that were.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

2). This is obviously a horrible tragedy, and everyone-including myself- is sad and angry about it. Sending positive thoughts to the

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

3). victims and their families. P.S. No one is making me send these tweets- I simply understand that my comments might have come off

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014

4). as insensitive and ill-timed. For that, I apologize.

— Jason Biggs (@JasonBiggs) July 17, 2014