How Jewish is Hollywood? A poll finds more Americans disagree with the statement that 'Jews control Hollywood.' But here's one Jew who doesn't
by Joel Stein,
LA Times, Dec 19, 2008
I have never been so upset by a poll in my life. Only 22% of Americans
now believe "the movie and television industries are pretty much run by Jews,"
down from nearly 50% in 1964. The Anti-Defamation League, which released the
poll results last month, sees in these numbers a victory against stereotyping.
Actually, it just shows how dumb America has gotten. Jews totally run Hollywood.
How deeply Jewish is Hollywood? When the studio chiefs took out a full-page ad
in the Los Angeles Times a few weeks ago to demand that the Screen Actors Guild
settle its contract, the open letter was signed by: News Corp. President Peter
Chernin (Jewish), Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey (Jewish), Walt Disney
Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger (Jewish), Sony Pictures Chairman Michael Lynton
(surprise, Dutch Jew), Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer (Jewish), CBS Corp.
Chief Executive Leslie Moonves (so Jewish his great uncle was the first prime
minister of Israel), MGM Chairman Harry Sloan (Jewish) and NBC Universal Chief
Executive Jeff Zucker (mega-Jewish). If either of the Weinstein brothers had
signed, this group would have not only the power to shut down all film
production but to form a minyan with enough Fiji water on hand to fill a mikvah.
The person they were yelling at in that ad was SAG President Alan Rosenberg
(take a guess). The scathing rebuttal to the ad was written by entertainment
super-agent Ari Emanuel (Jew with Israeli parents) on the Huffington Post, which
is owned by Arianna Huffington (not Jewish and has never worked in Hollywood.)
The Jews are so dominant, I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles
in high positions at entertainment companies. When I called them to talk about
their incredible advancement, five of them refused to talk to me, apparently out
of fear of insulting Jews. The sixth, AMC President Charlie Collier, turned out
to be Jewish.
As a proud Jew, I want America to know about our accomplishment. Yes, we control
Hollywood. Without us, you'd be flipping between "The 700 Club" and "Davey and
Goliath" on TV all day.
So I've taken it upon myself to re-convince America that Jews run Hollywood by
launching a public relations campaign, because that's what we do best. I'm
weighing several slogans, including: "Hollywood: More Jewish than ever!";
"Hollywood: From the people who brought you the Bible"; and "Hollywood: If you
enjoy TV and movies, then you probably like Jews after all."
I called ADL Chairman Abe Foxman, who was in Santiago, Chile, where, he told me
to my dismay, he was not hunting Nazis. He dismissed my whole proposition,
saying that the number of people who think Jews run Hollywood is still too high.
The ADL poll, he pointed out, showed that 59% of Americans think Hollywood execs
"do not share the religious and moral values of most Americans," and 43% think
the entertainment industry is waging an organized campaign to "weaken the
influence of religious values in this country."
That's a sinister canard, Foxman said. "It means they think Jews meet at
Canter's Deli on Friday mornings to decide what's best for the Jews." Foxman's
argument made me rethink: I have to eat at Canter's more often.
"That's a very dangerous phrase, 'Jews control Hollywood.' What is true is that
there are a lot of Jews in Hollywood," he said. Instead of "control," Foxman
would prefer people say that many executives in the industry "happen to be
Jewish," as in "all eight major film studios are run by men who happen to be
Jewish."
But Foxman said he is proud of the accomplishments of American Jews. "I think
Jews are disproportionately represented in the creative industry. They're
disproportionate as lawyers and probably medicine here as well," he said. He
argues that this does not mean that Jews make pro-Jewish movies any more than
they do pro-Jewish surgery. Though other countries, I've noticed, aren't so big
on circumcision.
I appreciate Foxman's concerns. And maybe my life spent in a New Jersey-New
York/Bay Area-L.A. pro-Semitic cocoon has left me naive. But I don't care if
Americans think we're running the news media, Hollywood, Wall Street or the
government. I just care that we get to keep running them.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-oe-stein19-2008dec19,0,2313474.column