The Jews of Hollywood Have Failed Us

This time last year the stars of Hollywood attended the 96th Oscars, often cited as ‘the biggest night in film’ to celebrate their achievements in the world of storytelling. It was a night that stood out for lots of Jews as we watched the world’s most famous people from Billie Eilish to Ava DuVernay walk the red carpet wearing a pin of blood stained hands in a supposed call for a ceasefire in Gaza. What the media, and indeed the celebrities wearing the pin, failed to mention is the history behind those blood stained hands. During the second Palestinian intifada in the early 2000s, two Israelis were brutally lynched, beaten and stabbed to death by a Palestinian mob. One of the Palestinian murderers was seen at a window showing his hands stained with the blood of the two Israelis he’d just ripped apart as the crowd outside cheered and celebrated. This is the symbol that celebrities wore in the name of peace, all while thousands line the streets of the UK and US each week calling for another intifada, again in the name of peace. One has to wonder whether these Hollywood folk knew the history of the pin and still chose to wear it, or whether they chose to not do any research into the pin and instead threw it on because it’s more important to make a statement than it is to have any integrity. I suspect it’s a mixture of the two.

This week we saw the 97th Oscars in which Jewish film was fairly well represented, most notably with The Brutalist about a Hungarian holocaust survivor moving to America and becoming a trailblazing architect, and A Real Pain about a pair of cousins travelling to Poland to learn about their family history during the Holocaust. Thankfully this year there was a notable absence of blood red pins, however there was another notable absence, particularly from the Jewish talent nominated. 

The elephant in the room of course is that since the inception of ‘Hollywood’ it’s long been said that Jews run it. It often appears as one of the most common stereotypes and conspiracy theories about Jews, and with Holocaust films often doing well at award shows it is one of the more credible antisemitic tropes. Yet with so many Jews supposedly pulling the strings in LA, I have to wonder why not one of them chose to use their platform to advocate for the safety of Jews or indeed for actual peace in the Middle East.

At this year’s awards, Zoe Saldana won for Best Supporting Actress, proudly acknowledging that she is the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award. Paul Tazewell won for Best Costume Design, addressing the fact that he is the first black man to receive an Academy Award for costume design. These talented people are able to proudly and happily celebrate who they are in these winning moments, yet the Jewish winners and nominees stay silent. 

Why is it that Adrien Brody can win two Oscars for films about the Holocaust yet can’t bring himself to mention that Jewish people today are facing the worst antisemitism since the events he is so famous for portraying on the big screen? How can Kieran Culkin, though not Jewish himself, win an Oscar for a film about the horrors of the Holocaust yet not mention Jewish people once? I think it’s time that we stop celebrating Jewish celebrities for simply being Jewish, it’s not enough. If Adrien Brody can win two Oscars and make millions off the back of the Holocaust yet can’t bring himself to mention antisemitism beyond the incredibly vague and watered-down words of, “calling out hate” then he shouldn’t be lauded as doing anything other than looking out for himself. 

The situation of representation is of course made worse by the fact that the only Jewish person to mention the Holocaust this award season was the despicable Jonathan Glazer who once again used his film about the Holocaust to compare it to the war in Gaza, inflaming the fires of antisemites who love nothing more than comparing Jews to Nazis. I have to assume that Mr Glazer has no Jewish people around him and that he doesn’t live a Jewish life because there is no way that he can witness the same thing I witness each day as a Jew yet use his platform to continue stirring up antisemitic hatred. 

Jewish celebrities need to use their voices. Whether the world likes it or not, millions of people watch the Oscars and listen to the acceptance speeches of the winners, so it’s vital that Jewish people hear from those ‘at the top’ that our safety is a concern of theirs.

I’m thankful for people like Tracy Ann-Oberman, Debra Messing and David Schwimmer who speak up for us, but the famous Jews advocating for our safety are few and far between. We need to start holding our Hollywood representatives to account, perhaps they’re in need of a Friday Night Dinner and a stroll through Golders Green, Broughton Park, or Stamford Hill, so they can see for themselves how much we need their voice and how much harm comes from their silence.