Hollywood Jew

May 24, 2011

Not Mel Gibson

By Danielle Berrin

Tweet

Share

Will the real anti-Semite please stand up?

Is it: a) Mel Gibson; b) Oliver Stone; c) John Galliano; d) Charlie Sheen; e) Lars von Trier — or (f) all of the above?

Trying to determine the worst offender may seem a Sisyphean task considering the past year’s almost farcical uptick in anti-Semitic rants. It’s like separating your least favorite jelly beans from an overstuffed crate. But to their credit as artists, this bunch has at least provided Jew-hating vitriol so colorful and diverse, no one will get bored with the same bean (OK, Mel, you get to be the exception). 

There isn’t anything new about anti-Semitism in Hollywood — the very idea of the entertainment industry is a recurring theme in the “Jewish-cabal-runs-the-world” plot, but the past year has provided such a diverse array of offensive things to say about Jews, the verbal wreckage is worth sifting through. Not all anti-Semites are created equal.

To recap: Last fall, Stone blamed Jewish media domination for a misunderstood view of Hitler: “Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people”; earlier this spring, Galliano called a woman in a Parisian restaurant a “dirty Jew face” and on another occasion was caught on video verbally assaulting guests at a neighboring table: “I love Hitler. People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f———gassed”; and then that mad hatter Charlie Sheen degraded his sitcom boss Chuck Lorre, calling him a “clown,” a “turd,” a “contaminated little maggot” and — worst of all — by his Hebrew name, Chaim Levine.

Maybe jelly beans are too kind a metaphor. None of those diatribes is particularly sweet; all are distasteful. But there is a difference between saying something stupid and naive and saying something hateful.

Now I’m going to say something that may sound stupid and naive: Lars von Trier is not an anti-Semite.

Last week, the Danish director disrupted the revelry on the Cote d’Azur with a very bizarre ramble at the Cannes Film Festival. During a press conference for his latest film, the apocalyptic “Melancholia,” which was in competition for the top prize (it didn’t win, but star Kirsten Dunst got an acting nod), von Trier was asked about his German roots and about an interview he once gave citing his “admiration for the Nazi aesthetic.”

“I thought I was a Jew for a long time and was very happy being a Jew,” von Trier told a conference room full of international reporters. “And then I found out I was really a Nazi, because my family was German, which also gave me some pleasure. So I’m kind of … yep … what can I say? I understand Hitler. But I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely. … He’s not what you would call ‘a good guy,’ but I understand much about him, and I sympathize with him a little. I’m not against Jews — no. … I am of course very much for Jews — no, not too much, because the Israelis are a pain in the ass. …”

Finally realizing he had buried himself deep in the jelly bean jar and consequently mortified his cast, who flanked him on both sides, the bumbling von Trier wondered: “How can I get out of this sentence?”

Uh, too late.

Von Trier’s flippant ramble instantly made headlines, hijacking the spotlight from his film (and all other films), and within 24 hours, the festival officially banned the director, declaring him persona non grata. He immediately recanted: “If I have hurt someone by the words I said at the press conference, I sincerely apologize. I am not anti-Semitic or racially prejudiced in any way, nor am I a Nazi.” And later, for good measure, he added, “I’m known for provocations, but I like provocations when they have a purpose, and this had no purpose whatsoever. Because I’m not Mel Gibson. I’m definitely not Mel Gibson.”

As an artist, von Trier is certainly iconoclastic, known for edgy and visually evocative films. The Bjork-headlining musical “Dancer in the Dark,” about a blind woman who escapes despair by daydreaming elaborate musical numbers, won him the Palme d’Or in 2000, Cannes’ top prize. His 2009 entry, the uber-raunchy “Antichrist,” generated heat for its portrayal of female genital mutilation and lots of gratuitous sex. For his next project, von Trier has promised … porn.

The zany director isn’t always so sane. After his banishment, von Trier declared himself “proud” to be cast out and invited anyone who was displeased with him to hit him — the caveat was that he might “enjoy it.”

Even the Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman seemed somewhat puzzled by von Trier, calling his comments “insensitive” while calling attention to his frailties.

“He seems to be struggling with some personal ghosts,” Foxman said in a statement. “I don’t know what to make of it, except that what we’re seeing recently is, when somebody has a personal problem or is under intense pressure, it bursts out in an anti-Semitic fashion.” (Hear that, Charlie Sheen?)

The Hollywood reporter Mike Fleming was less charitable. “If there was a festival prize for Biggest Douchebag, von Trier wins, hands down,” he wrote on the entertainment blog Deadline.com.

I can think of a few Yiddish words that might fit, too. One rhymes with “buck.”

But unlike his anti-Semitic-spewing brethren, von Trier’s prattle was not hostile; he used no slang nor slurs, nor threatening language.

In fact, if the vulgar von Trier committed any offense, it was in downplaying the Dictator of Mass Destruction. It’s fine to feel you “understand Hitler” as a man, or as a character — von Trier is, after all, a filmmaker — but to say that the engineer of the greatest mass murder in recent history did “some wrong things” and is “not what you would call ‘a good guy’ ” is wildly misguided. That kind of talk blunts the man’s accomplishments — Hitler would find it insulting.

Foxman got it right when he spoke of personal ghosts. It seems von Trier is unlikely to be a danger to Jewish welfare, but he is a danger to himself.

“I got carried away,” he told The New York Times last Friday, from a hotel five miles north of Cannes. “I feel this obligation, which is completely stupid and very unprofessional, to kind of entertain the crowd a little bit.”

If further proof is needed that von Trier has peculiar ideas about entertainment, watch his movies. Much of his subject matter could only emerge from a dark and tormented mind. The “Melancholia” director is truly melancholy.

“I had actually been drinking quite a lot, but now I’m sober,” he told Times reporter Dennis Lim. “I would suggest to everybody, don’t stop drinking. If I had been [drinking], I would be almost asleep at the press conference and would not have said those stupid things.”

A version of this article appeared in print.

---

Post your comment below!

Click here to return to the homepage.

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback. Comments may not exceed 700 characters.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Terms of Service

JewishJournal.com has rules for its commenting community.Get all the details.

Mel Gibson never mentioned hitler nor being a nazi and there was no witnesses at all but a guy who is highly suspicious as havign lots of conflicts in his police station with his superior who je knew were frineds of Mle Gibson and arrested Mle Gibson, on a eve when he had in fact free and wasnt on patrol, as a revenge stunt agaisnt hsi superiors..

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:14 am

and he also made that fake DUI report that he gave to harvey levi form TMZ after several days of forht and back tlaking on cemmphones and meetings, to arrange and ela of what they were fgoign to write in it.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:15 am

Do not forget that the “sugar tits ” part of that report, attributed to mel gibson was in fact never said by mel gbson but was an expression that james mee used daily at the police staiton when tlaking ot his femnale coworkers.. as the internal affair report has unvieled, Its available to all so go see.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:16 am

So knowing that james mee made up that part of his report and put words in mel gibsons mought, wouldnt it be very likely that he alos put the rest in mel gibsons mouth and that in fact mLE GIBSON NEVER SAID THOSE THINGS NOR MENTIONED JEWS DURING HIS ARREST but that the entire thing was made uæ by james mee as a revenge thing?
Legaly speaking if oyu lie in your decalration all what oyu said in it can be cosnidered s a lie oyu lost credibility, even worse when its a policeman tha tlies in his report about a DUI.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:17 am

He had a motive for lying n it and making mle gibson loks bad. Boththe fact hat he was field for sexual harrasemnt by his female coworkers for claling thme sugar tits all the time, and becaise james mee was in conflict withhis boss and had never recieved a promotion in 15 years because of his cosntant jamering and not keeping thre rules., Which is important to notice in this case.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:18 am

The fact remain that we have absolulty no prove what so ever that mel Gibson is an antisemite and all we have are secodn hands reporting from a officer who had very heavy reaosns to lie and in worse it was reported by TMZ, who at this time was unknown , had never made a scoop, and was about to close as Harvey neded cash and was going banckrupt. So that DUI scoop and that folwlong amntisemtic rant scoop saved his life and business and made harvey and tmz famous over night..
But how come Harvey was in phone contgact with james mee, the arresting officer, a few days before that officer made that arrest?

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:20 am

It could be that james mee contacted harvey, and they made up the story of antisemtic rant later on because the DUI scoop was good but not good enough to save harveys business and project “tmz”..?
As i see it it was all made up by jamnes mee and there must be soem poeple who know so
Of coure harvey has no interest to say it now, as it could be costly for him to do so, but he did gave soem hinch about it in novemebr 209 in na interview he gave to a newspaper about it and how he became famous.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:23 am

He did mentioend in that interview that the DUI report he viewed on TMZ was an Hoax. Whihc if i understand it right mean that the sotry was not true, was a bluff, menaing it was made up and Mle Gibson never said anything about jews when he was arrested.
And it will be very jewish internal stuff to say soemhting like “the jews are the cause of all wars” right at a time when Israel was bombing Libanon, cause it wil be a very sensitive subject for jews at exacrtly that time.. which someone like james mee and harvey levi will know.. as they were jews..

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:25 am

It dint strike a light in anyone else as for why mel wil be saying that who sound meaningless, but it make sense if oyu take the political and emotional environemnt at the time cuased by the libanon war with israel and made it a very touchy subject that most peole have now for long forgotten..
But doenst that prove too with all the rest that this sentence was made up by james mee?
Maybe reflecting his own obessions and fears to be accused of making a war agaisnt libanon?
it make sense in that angle but no sense for mel gibson to say something as menaingless as that.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:27 am

and sugartits of course to make it sound like lethal weapon Riggs.. hmmm nope! thats too obvious this thing was a fake.
and i dont think that james mee is going to make confessions about it anytime soon as if he did he wil go striaght to jail.
So Mel gibson is really in the shit unless james mee’s wife decide to confess…
I dont know how you look at that but for me to see its more than highly probable that the whole thing was made up and that people were far too busy at being offended and screeming at mel gibson to notice what was goign on aroudn it and what was highly suspicious in all this.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:30 am

Look at just the fact that the internal affair report is available since february 2009 stating that mel gibson never said sugar tits, with several witnesses, and that it was sometihng that james mee always used to say to all female officers there, but still no media has taken that up and done a follow up.
Sugar tits is stil made up as being something that mel gibson said.
No journalists, nor someone from the jewish comunity, has even tried to take that up and ask “but wait here a minute, since that guy put words in Mel gibsons mouht, how do we know that he didnt lied about the whole thing and that Mel Gibson never made any antisemitic tirade nor even mentioend the jews during his arrest??”

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:34 am

Try to be objectiv here: there was no witness no tapes th guy made no video, and agaisnt all rules he went on patrol and arrested mel gibson solo, on his own, on an evening when he was OFF DUTY!!
Doesnt it all make it an overflow of evidences to you that the whole thing was made up?
So now the question is, do you want to call Mel Gibson an antisemite for the fun of it, or do you actualy want it to be a genuate claim, and if its a lie then you will like it to be unveiled?

Because thats what the question is now.

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:37 am

Why accuse Mel Gibson to be an antisemite if he is not an antisemite and why accuse him to have said jews are cause of all wars during his arrest if he actualy never said those things?

I am very curious to hear your reaction about this and what oyu think should be done.

and scuse the typos i have some sort of cramp on both hands

Comment by Sweetheart on 5/26/11 at 11:38 am

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?