Hundreds Of Jews In Hollywood Denounce Jonathan Glazer's Oscars Speech In Letter
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Jewish actors and other entertainment figures slammed director Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech in a letter that has gathered hundreds of signatures.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” said the letter, which responded specifically to Glazer’s remarks after his movie, “Zone of Interest” won the Oscar for best international film on March 10.
Signees include actors Debra Messing, Julianna Margulies, Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Tovah Feldshuh; directors Eli Roth and Rod Lurie; and producers Lawrence Bender, Amy Pascal and Sherry Lansing.
Glazer, who is Jewish, made a movie that imagined the family life of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss next door to the death camp. In his victory speech Glazer drew parallels to Israel’s counteroffensive in Gaza after it was attacked by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people,” Glazer said. “Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”
Glazer was one of the few award winners to comment on the war in Gaza, which has reportedly killed tens of thousands of people while dividing opinion on the role the U.S. should play in the conflict.
The letter condemned Glazer’s terminology.
“The use of words like ‘occupation’ to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a homeland that dates back thousands of years, and has been recognized as a state by the United Nations, distorts history,” the message read. “It gives credence to the modern blood libel that fuels a growing anti-Jewish hatred around the world, in the United States, and in Hollywood.”
“The current climate of growing antisemitism only underscores the need for the Jewish State of Israel, a place which will always take us in, as no state did during the Holocaust depicted in Mr. Glazer’s film,” the letter continued.
“Modern Family” producer Ilana Wernick told Variety that “writing the letter wasn’t just cathartic for us. It’s something we had to do.”
The Hollywood Reporter provided a fuller list of signees.
