David Schwimmer, 200 other stars sign scathing letter blasting Motion Picture Academy for ‘antisemitism
The JITC Hollywood Bureau for Jewish Representation — “The first and only Jewish Hollywood bureau,” launched in 2021 and founded by Allison Josephs — has sent a letter to the Motion Picture Academy claiming that its inclusion policy “erases Jewish peoplehood and perpetuates myths of Jewish whiteness, power, and that racism against Jews is not a major issue or that it’s a thing of the past.”The letter has been signed by more than over 200 people, including David Schwimmer, Tiffany Haddish, Julianna Margulies, Michael Rapaport, Debra Messing, Ginnifer Goodwin and Marta Kauffman.In August, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences amended its “Representation and Inclusion Standards” for the 96th Oscars Awards Show, airing March 10 on ABC.Regarding lead actors or “significant supporting actors from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups,” the academy included, among others, African American/Black/African and/or Caribbean descent; East Asian; Hispanic or Latina/e/o/x; Indigenous Peoples; Middle Eastern/North African; and Southeast Asian.“Jewish people being excluded from the Motion Picture Academy’s Representation and Inclusion Standards is discriminating against a protected class by invalidating their historic and genetic identity,” the letter states.“This must be addressed immediately by including Jews in the Motion Picture Academy’s Representation and Inclusion Standards.”Other signees of the letter include Bret Gelman, Iliza Schlesinger, Elon Gold, Josh Dallas, Emanuelle Chriqui and Mark Feuerstein.“While many mistakenly believe that Judaism is only a religion, Jews are actually an ethnic group, with a varied spiritual practice that not all observe,” the letter says.