https://forward.com/culture/524853/dave-chappelle-antisemitism-snl-monologue-open-letter-hollywood/
I opened an email this morning which led me to an article in The Forward, a Jewish publication out of NYC. The article is entitled “An Open Letter to Dave Chapelle from the great-granddaughter of a Hollywood pioneer,” as if someone being the great-grandchild of some big movie macher or Hollywood chalutz confers credibility or makes any difference at all.
The author of the article, Sharon Rosen Leib, tries – unsuccessfully, in my none-too-humble opinion – to link together American anti-Semites, Dave Chapelle, Nazis, and Donald Trump!
Trump? The president who finally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and opened a U.S. embassy there? The president who, with the hard work of his Jewish son-in-law, Jared Kushner, enabled Israel to finally establish diplomatic relations with Muslim Arab states in the Gulf?
Dave Chapelle? The fearless truth-telling comedian, who, in his SNL routine, comes up with this great line:
“Trump is an honest liar.” 😉
Chapelle is an incredibly talented, thoughtful, and funny guy – even when he pokes fun at my people, Jews, or, as he prefers to call us, “the Jews.” We are, after all, a very funny people, and if any people ought to be able to laugh at themselves, it’s Jews!
In her article, Ms. Leib offers this odd bit of historical reasoning: “Yes, there are a lot of Jews in Hollywood – because discrimination shut them out of other careers in the early 1900s.”
Really? The reason Jews have become a major creative force in the American television and film industries – in writing, acting, directing, and producing – is because they couldn’t work elsewhere??? Not because of their creative talents and sensibilities? Not because of their millennia-old traditions of achievement in literature and the arts? As a Jew, as a lawyer, and especially as a Jewish lawyer(!), she ought to know better!