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Comedy Has Always Poked Fun at Stereotypes, So Why Are We Jumping on “You People”?

Sure, I was offended that there were no Sephardic Jews in “You People,” but so what? It was a comedy, not an ADL report. Are comedians obligated to never offend us?
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February 5, 2023

Over the past week, we’ve seen a mini-avalanche of complaints about the Netflix hit comedy “You People” from Jews offended by its blatant use of Jewish stereotypes that perpetuate “antisemitic tropes.”

To tell you the truth, as a Sephardic Jew, I also was offended that the film did not include Sephardic Jews in its depiction of American Jewry. How dare they exclude us?

The movie played up the predictable Ashkenazi stereotypes we’ve grown accustomed to in shows like “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which often offend Ashkenazi Jews themselves. Case in point: I was rewatching an old “Curb” episode the other night in which Larry David is angry that his divorce lawyer is not Jewish. That’s right, Larry wanted the wily Jewish lawyer who’ll get you the best deal. Isn’t that another one of those classic antisemitic tropes? The show is full of them.

The point is this: If stereotypes offend you, best you stay away from comedy.

Sure, I was offended that there were no Sephardic Jews in “You People,” but so what? It was a comedy, not an ADL report. Are comedians obligated to never offend us? Must they always reflect the multi-ethnic diversity of American Jewry while they try to make us laugh? I realize that many of us would like them to—but why should they?

Among other things, the creators of “You People” poke fun at woke Jews who are ignorant of Black culture but twist themselves into pretzels trying to show how cool and inclusive they are. That is a very plausible and funny idea. What’s wrong with having fun with it?

Just like Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal and countless other Jewish comedians through the years, the Jews in “You People” are depicted as “white” and “privileged.” Is that so bad that it’s worth making a federal case? When did Jews come to judge comedy with the same harshness we would a Klan conference?

I get that antisemitism is on the rise and it has become a source of high anxiety. But if we start going after comedians the same way we go after evil haters, we won’t be left with too many friends. There’s enough to keep us busy with the intentional haters who wish us harm.

Because Jewish activists who go after comedies like “You People” don’t want to be accused of being scolds who can’t take a joke, they use words like “dangerous” and “harmful” to justify their attacks. That in itself has become a common trope of activists.

Let me confess. In that episode when Larry David freaked out because his Swedish divorce lawyer named Berg was not Jewish and he assumed his wife would “get everything,” I had stomach pains from the laughter.

Had I thought about it long enough, I’m sure I could have found reasons to be offended and even angry that these negative stereotypes of Jews keep getting perpetuated. But I try to separate content from intent.

Larry David has poked fun at Holocaust survivors, people with disabilities, Palestinians, African Americans, religious Jews and pretty much every group under the sun. In each case, we could have accused him of perpetuating negative and harmful stereotypes. And yet, we give him leeway because he’s not a social scientist; he’s a genius comedian.

“You People” is not as funny as “Curb” because the jokes and the set ups are not as clever. The scenes are often contrived and the humor feels like it is trying too hard. Eddie Murphy, one of my comedic heroes, calls in his performance. He is pretty lifeless.

But these are cinematic and comedic issues, not issues of antisemitism.

A lot of the complaints about the film have centered on a dinner scene when the Jewish and Black families meet. We’re served a buffet of offensive tropes: Louis Farrakhan, the alleged Jewish role in the slave trade, Jewish privilege, and so on. It’s awkward and cringy. But the reason the scene doesn’t work is that there’s not enough cutting humor.

Yes, Farrakhan is an antisemite and it’s always dicey to mention him in a movie with Jews. The Jewish mother in the scene (played brilliantly by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), tries valiantly to defend Jews, but you can tell she’s walking on eggshells. That very idea—Jews who feel guilty about their success and privilege—speaks to an uncomfortable truth that the movie brought out.

That uncomfortable truth, however, would have registered better had it been conveyed in a very funny way. Comedians who play with fire know that to make the fire work, they better kill.

One of my favorite examples of a blatant use of Jewish stereotypes for comedic effect is from my friend Elon Gold. In a recent show, this was his reaction to that infamous march in Charlottesville where white supremacists were chanting “Jews will not replace us”:

“We don’t want to replace you,” Gold said. “We just want to put braces on you … we just want to manage your portfolio … we don’t want to replace you, we want to place you, in a 30-year fixed low interest mortgage … we want to fit you for glasses, heal you teach you, inspire you, make you laugh, represent you in a divorce, and she replaces you.”

Maybe next time a comedy offends us, we should let our comics handle it.

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