In the Nov. 24 issue of the Jewish Exponent, there was an op-ed by Rebecca Sugar entitled “Dave Chappelle Was More Than Funny. He Was Right.” After watching Chappelle’s monologue twice, he was neither funny, nor right; his monologue was borderline or outright antisemitic. Nothing he said was amusing.
Forever, Jews have blamed Jews as to how they react or don’t react to antisemitism; the Jews were too docile to the SS or our parents’ generation, “Shhh, talking about it will only make it worse.”
As a message from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently stated, “Antisemitic rhetoric is escalating in its frequency, visibility, and intensity.” Now is not the time to blame the Jews for this.
Sugar did not like any of the responses to the antisemitism of Kanye West or Kyrie Irving. Among others, she criticized the ADL’s response to Chappelle’s attempts at humor and did not appreciate Irving’s $500,000 donation to a group that fights hate. She even thought Chappelle making fun of the dress of Brooklyn Jews was hilarious. Sugar made no meaningful suggestion as to how to respond.
The only thing worth laughing at was the nonsense Sugar espoused.
Robert M. Schwartz, Bala Cynwyd
