The question of antisemitism is one that has traditionally made Hollywood profoundly uncomfortable as an industry full of Jewish people who would rather not talk about Jews, Jewish people, Israel or – God forbid – antisemitism.
Why that’s true requires a Ph.D. in psycho-Semitism (if that were a thing), but Kanye “Ye” West has managed to get shut out of much of Hollywood this past week after a series of anti-Semitic rants that have been embraced by hate groups and spread over social media. He’s lost his agency (CAA), his lawyer at Brown Rudnick and lucrative partnerships with fashion giants such as Balenciaga and others.
Also on Monday, MRC announced the cancellation of an already completed, $2 million documentary called “The Myth of Ye” that it had financed and produced and hoped to sell for as much as $10 million in distribution revenues. Director Zach Heinzerling sought to explore the relationship between the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, and the media – whether he is used by the press, or uses them for his own purposes. Whether he’s crazy, or just crazy like a fox.
The topic would seem extremely timely except for the fact that Media Rights Capital’s (MRC) leadership decided they would not be part of amplifying anything Ye had to say. Instead, MRC co-founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, along with Chief Business Officer Scott Tenley, scrapped the project — even though Ye had no stake in it whatsoever (a rationale that Netflix cited on Monday to defend keeping its “Jeen-Yuhs” docuseries on the streaming service).
“It was a decision we had to make,” Wiczyk told WaxWord. “It was a business and moral decision and forced us to think about it. It gave us a platform to speak, we felt we have to do our part. We have been very troubled over the last couple of years over this ‘second lie,’ antisemitism 2.0, this rhetoric that is putting a wedge between Jewish people and Black people,” he continued. “The lie that if you support Israel you must be a racist.”
Wiczyk, who is Jewish (though I hesitate to share that fact because why should it matter), and Satchu (who is Muslim, which again is a fact that I hesitate to share because it also doesn’t matter) have been watching with concern the rise of both antisemitism and a more virulent strain of anti-Zionism in recent years.
“I have seen the full intersection of Israel and the Jewish identity,” Wiczyk said, adding that the BDS movement — promoting boycotts, divestments and economic sanctions against Israel — “has brought it to the mainstream. A lot of people are saying ‘Zionists are racists, but I’m not anti-Semitic.’ That’s ridiculous. It’s the mainstreaming of antisemitism, using anti-Israel as a smokescreen, a Trojan horse for antisemitism.”
What should Hollywood do about it?, I asked.
Since the very origins of Hollywood, the Jewish individuals who have figured prominently in the film industry’s leadership have been hesitant to call attention to their religion.
It’s a sticky problem, he admitted. Since the very origins of Hollywood, the Jewish individuals who have figured prominently in the film industry’s leadership have been hesitant to call attention to their religion.
Discrimination against people of color has been, all agree, a pressing concern in entertainment and beyond. But antisemitism has also decisively reared its head more recently.
Just this weekend, a right-wing hate group unfurled banners supporting Ye’s remarks on a Los Angeles freeway, and Wiczyk was among those across the city who received anti-Semitic literature in his mailbox.
The Anti-Defamation League has just released alarming figures tracking 2,717 anti-Semitic incidents in 2021. “It’s the highest total we’ve seen in 47 years,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL told me on Monday. “That’s a 34% increase, year over year, and almost triple whatwe saw in 2015.”
Doing nothing does not seem like a good course.
“Hollywood has been very articulate and on the case about traditional antisemitism,” Wiczyk said. “Many of us have been confused about how to talk about Israel and Palestine. How that intersects with being Jews in America. And how a given person’s opinions may reflect on their view of civil rights in general. I think that’s a complicated conversation that people have been very scared of having.”
He went on: “The next step in the conversation has to be to create a safe space for people to be critical of Israel and in defense of Israel in ways that are healthy and do not label them beyond their opinions of the situation.”
I don’t know exactly how that figures into canceling the Ye documentary, but it’s certainly a way to bring an uncomfortable discourse out of the shadows.
Sharon Waxman is founder and editor-in-chief of The Wrap, a premier site covering Hollywood. Reprinted with permission.
In Hollywood, Bringing Antisemitism Out of the Shadows
Sharon Waxman, The Wrap
The question of antisemitism is one that has traditionally made Hollywood profoundly uncomfortable as an industry full of Jewish people who would rather not talk about Jews, Jewish people, Israel or – God forbid – antisemitism.
Why that’s true requires a Ph.D. in psycho-Semitism (if that were a thing), but Kanye “Ye” West has managed to get shut out of much of Hollywood this past week after a series of anti-Semitic rants that have been embraced by hate groups and spread over social media. He’s lost his agency (CAA), his lawyer at Brown Rudnick and lucrative partnerships with fashion giants such as Balenciaga and others.
Also on Monday, MRC announced the cancellation of an already completed, $2 million documentary called “The Myth of Ye” that it had financed and produced and hoped to sell for as much as $10 million in distribution revenues. Director Zach Heinzerling sought to explore the relationship between the rapper, who legally changed his name to Ye, and the media – whether he is used by the press, or uses them for his own purposes. Whether he’s crazy, or just crazy like a fox.
The topic would seem extremely timely except for the fact that Media Rights Capital’s (MRC) leadership decided they would not be part of amplifying anything Ye had to say. Instead, MRC co-founders Modi Wiczyk and Asif Satchu, along with Chief Business Officer Scott Tenley, scrapped the project — even though Ye had no stake in it whatsoever (a rationale that Netflix cited on Monday to defend keeping its “Jeen-Yuhs” docuseries on the streaming service).
“It was a decision we had to make,” Wiczyk told WaxWord. “It was a business and moral decision and forced us to think about it. It gave us a platform to speak, we felt we have to do our part. We have been very troubled over the last couple of years over this ‘second lie,’ antisemitism 2.0, this rhetoric that is putting a wedge between Jewish people and Black people,” he continued. “The lie that if you support Israel you must be a racist.”
Wiczyk, who is Jewish (though I hesitate to share that fact because why should it matter), and Satchu (who is Muslim, which again is a fact that I hesitate to share because it also doesn’t matter) have been watching with concern the rise of both antisemitism and a more virulent strain of anti-Zionism in recent years.
“I have seen the full intersection of Israel and the Jewish identity,” Wiczyk said, adding that the BDS movement — promoting boycotts, divestments and economic sanctions against Israel — “has brought it to the mainstream. A lot of people are saying ‘Zionists are racists, but I’m not anti-Semitic.’ That’s ridiculous. It’s the mainstreaming of antisemitism, using anti-Israel as a smokescreen, a Trojan horse for antisemitism.”
What should Hollywood do about it?, I asked.
It’s a sticky problem, he admitted. Since the very origins of Hollywood, the Jewish individuals who have figured prominently in the film industry’s leadership have been hesitant to call attention to their religion.
Discrimination against people of color has been, all agree, a pressing concern in entertainment and beyond. But antisemitism has also decisively reared its head more recently.
Just this weekend, a right-wing hate group unfurled banners supporting Ye’s remarks on a Los Angeles freeway, and Wiczyk was among those across the city who received anti-Semitic literature in his mailbox.
The Anti-Defamation League has just released alarming figures tracking 2,717 anti-Semitic incidents in 2021. “It’s the highest total we’ve seen in 47 years,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL told me on Monday. “That’s a 34% increase, year over year, and almost triple whatwe saw in 2015.”
Doing nothing does not seem like a good course.
“Hollywood has been very articulate and on the case about traditional antisemitism,” Wiczyk said. “Many of us have been confused about how to talk about Israel and Palestine. How that intersects with being Jews in America. And how a given person’s opinions may reflect on their view of civil rights in general. I think that’s a complicated conversation that people have been very scared of having.”
He went on: “The next step in the conversation has to be to create a safe space for people to be critical of Israel and in defense of Israel in ways that are healthy and do not label them beyond their opinions of the situation.”
I don’t know exactly how that figures into canceling the Ye documentary, but it’s certainly a way to bring an uncomfortable discourse out of the shadows.
Sharon Waxman is founder and editor-in-chief of The Wrap, a premier site covering Hollywood. Reprinted with permission.
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
John Ondrasik, Jonah Platt Highlight AJC, ADL Press Briefing at UCLA Hillel
Shabbat Prayer for Our College Students and Ourselves
1,400 Yizkors
Being Good is Easier to Resist than Sweezy vs New Hampshire
A Bisl Torah – Souls Connected
All the Fish in the Sea – A poem for Parsha Acharei Mot
Culture
Welcome Back, Carbs!
A Perfect Pair of Confits
‘The Enemy Beside Me’: Can the Truth of Lithuania Holocaust History Be Told in Lithuania to Lithuanians and By Lithuanians?
A History of a Pivotal Era in Palestine Wins a Top Jewish Book Prize
State Legislator Demands Federal Probe into UCLA’s Failure to Protect Pupils
Assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur said UCLA’s inaction “likely violate” Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Chancellor Block Addresses Pro-Palestinian Encampment Removal: “It Needed to Come to an End”
Block said the encampment “became a focal point for serious violence.”
Police Clear Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UCLA
More than 200 protesters were arrested during the late night raid.
The Assault: A Coordinated Attack on America’s Jews and Israel
American Jews are awakening to a new political reality concerning our changing status and position in the United States.
We Need Tactical Training to Combat Campus Antisemitism
We need on-the-ground tactical training for Jewish student activists and leaders if the Jewish community is going to push back against this madness and protect college students.
Hollywood
Spielberg Says Antisemitism Is “No Longer Lurking, But Standing Proud” Like 1930s Germany
Young Actress Juju Brener on Her “Hocus Pocus 2” Role
Behind the Scenes of “Jeopardy!” with Mayim Bialik
Podcasts
Chico Menashe: Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel, Cooking with Chutzpah and The Open Kitchen Project
Beth Lee: OMG Yummy, Exciting Flavors and Preserved Lemons
More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.