People Are Supporting "The Zone Of Interest" Director Jonathan Glazer After His Moving Oscars Speech Was Egregiously Misquoted
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Yesterday, writer and director Jonathan Glazer won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for his movie The Zone of Interest. In his speech, he was the only winner to directly condemn the violence in Gaza.
For context, The Zone of Interest is a disturbing movie about the Holocaust, as told through an unsettling portrait of a Nazi family who live by Auschwitz. It was nominated for five Oscars in total, including Best Picture.
Upon accepting the award, Jonathan took to the stage alongside producer James Wilson. He said, “All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present, not to say: ‘Look what they did then’ — rather, look what we do now. Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s shaped all of our past and present."
"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,” he said, to some applause. “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?”
The death toll in Palestine has already crossed 30,000 since October.
Jonathan dedicated the award to a woman named Alexandra, whom he met while making the movie, who left food for the prisoners in the camp overnight while she was a child in the area. As she is depicted in the movie, Jonathan concluded, "I dedicate this to her memory, and her resistance."
However, people took Jonathan's words grossly out of context — such as Republican pundit Meghan McCain, who tweeted, "Lotta people in Hollywood showing their ass when a man gets on stage to 'refute his Jewishness' and half the room claps."
Batya Ungar-Sargon, the opinion editor at Newsweek, shared a similar opinion to McCain, tweeting the same clipped quote and adding, "I simply cannot fathom the moral rot in someone's soul that leads them to win an award for a movie about the Holocaust and with the platform given to them, to accept that award by saying, 'We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness.'"
A New York Post columnist tweeted, "Jonathan Glazer, you can go fuck yourself and stuff your Oscar up your ass." Former Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman further posted, "As a survivor of the Holocaust I am shocked the director would slap the memory of over 1 million Jews who died because they were Jews by announcing he refutes his Jewishness. Shame on you."
Amid the backlash, many subsequently took to the platform to reemphasize what Jonathan had actually said:
You can disagree with what Jonathan Glazer said, but lying that he said he “refuted his Jewishness” rather than that he “refuted his Jewishness being hijacked” is so dishonest
— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) March 11, 2024
The speed at which Jonathan Glazer’s statement has been misquoted and turned into something sinister, even in Variety, has been incredible. There’s video evidence of what he said, and even that hasn’t stopped the effort to change it into something else.
— Zito (@_Zeets) March 11, 2024
the way that jonathan glazer's quote is being taken out of context is almost surreal. this man did not "refute his jewishness"! he said he refutes his jewishness being hijacked by the israeli occupation!! agree or don't, but at least quote him accurately lol
— josie duffy rice (@jduffyrice) March 11, 2024
He did not refute his Jewishness, he refuted its weaponization. https://t.co/t6j1mgR9wy
— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) March 11, 2024
And some argued that the aforementioned critiques were not done so in "good faith":
The problem with threads like these is that they assume the people attacking Glazer are acting in good faith, which they are not and will not. There's no misunderstanding here - what they take issue with is him even mentioning the genocide in Gaza. https://t.co/nNkbiIjidV
— Hannah Williams (@hkatewilliams) March 11, 2024
The fact that a Jewish director of a highly acclaimed film about the Holocaust, made in collaboration with the Auschwitz Museum, is being accused of *antisemitism* by right wingers simply because he decried the violence done to Palestinian civilians in his name says so much
— Arlen Parsa (@arlenparsa) March 11, 2024
We'll keep you posted with any updates.
