Rather than celebrating artistic freedom, this year’s Toronto International Film Festival became the locus of an artist-led, divisive boycott against Israel.
In its last two seasons, Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” pushed politically correct notions of Jewish identity and race to cringe-worthy and hilarious extremes. David, playing an exaggerated version of his misanthropic self, briefly made nice when he mistakenly believed he had been adopted and was not born Jewish, then he returned to his callous self when his wife — now estranged — took in an African American family that had been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. “So your last name is Black,” he says to the family upon their first meeting, arriving late to pick them up at the airport. “That’d be like if my last name were Jew: Larry Jew.”
When Amir Gissin helped come up with an idea to remake Israel\’s international image several years ago, it\’s unlikely he imagined that the showcasing of Israeli films in Toronto would spark a star-studded Hollywood brouhaha over artistic expression and cultural boycotts.
I recently signed a letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival\’s decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. This in the very year when Gaza happened.
Rob Kutner is a veteran comedy writer for “The Daily Show” and author of the tongue-in-cheek “Apocalypse How” (Running Press, 2008). Having just returned to Los Angeles to work for “The Tonight Show With Conan O’Brien,” he talks about being an observant Jew in Hollywood, why George W. Bush is more fun to write about than President Obama and why he doesn’t believe you ever really “make it” in Hollywood.
Army Archerd, whose 52-year run as a Daily Variety columnist made him unique among showbiz reporters, died Tuesday
Madonna made a late-night visit to the Western Wall. Accompanied by bodyguards, Madonna on Sunday night visited Judaism’s holiest site and toured the attached underground tunnels. Madonna arrived in Israel, accompanied by her children, for two concerts in Tel Aviv.
Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music\’s most enduring songs, including Chapel of Love, Be My Baby and Leader of the Pack, died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.
What kind of person would go on a reality dating show with his mother in tow giving every potential love connection the once-over? A nice Jewish boy, of course — one like Antonio Sabato Jr., the Italian-born heartthrob best known for gracing a 90-foot Times Square billboard wearing only his Calvin Klein briefs and a sultry half-smile.
When the American Jewish dairy farmer Max Yasgur died in 1973, he became one of few non-musicians to receive a full-page obituary in Rolling Stone magazine. That’s because Yasgur said “yes” to organizers of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair 40 years ago this week, allowing half a million young people to camp out on his land in Bethel, NY, after neighboring towns refused to grant access to the flower children.\n
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