Is this anti-semitism?

it's less incredulity and more weariness over the obsession with rooting out any signs of potential antisemitism from certain types of people while the most fucking blatant stuff from other types of people is repeatedly given a pass

Has Foxx ever said another word even remotely anti-Semitic? If not, I think maybe we don't have to credit the Eve Barlows of the world for jumping to the conclusion that he decided to announce his conversion to being a Nazi through a Myspace meme about fake friends.

at this point I'm really willing to accept his apology at face value. it's not like Rudy or Hanania (just to name two very recent examples) are apologizing for the anti-semitic shit they spew

it is so fucking racist how selectively this level of scrutiny and these demands for repentance are being applied right now and that even goes for cases that are far less ambiguously bigoted than this one

A LOT of people on Black Twitter were saying that that saying is fairly common and is about betrayal rather than the Jews.

yeah its a p clear line about judas

people are desperate to unload the baggage of centuries of european christian antisemitism onto whoever looks like they might be an easy enough target and it doesn't matter what they actually said or did or meant the important thing is that it's on them now

You don’t even need to go on Black Twitter, I doubt anyone who has lived in a Christian community won’t have heard “they killed Jesus” referring to general persecution it’s kind of foundational

(As is the fact that the killing of Christ was literally the entire plan all along to wash our sins away & therefore good not bad)

Xpost

Or

Maybe

People mistook what he said for a common antisemitic trope, heard the apology, and said "ok understood".

I don't think there's anything left to critique after his apology but going after Jewish people of all ages for having an understandable misread the first time is also dumb.

And it's pretty weak to lump in alt-right dicks who jump on supposed Black antisemitism to espouse their barely concealed racism without pushback vs people who are vocal against all anti-Semitism from all camps. Why does everything always have to be binary with convenient labels attached

Xpost fwiw I was in those communities my entire youth through adolescence and there was definitely a non-zero number of people who meant it the other way, particularly in the Fundie church. Not a majority by any means but between them and neo-Nazi trolls on mIRC, there's a reason I was very familiar with the "JEWS KILLED JESUS" trope by age 19

Anyway given the explanation I don't think that's how he meant it and it should be dropped by any decent person at this point

in case I said something I didn't mean to say - by people I meant european christian antisemites and their descendents and allies; by baggage I meant their guilt and moral responsibility; in europe the projection I tried to describe is often barely hidden and a lot of mainstream european liberals will just come out and say (with minimal pushback) the kind of shit that american conservatives tend to dance around when it comes to racist/antisemitic conspiracy theories that purport to explain the presence of antisemitism in their midst despite "defeating" it being central to their national and continental identities

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/16/bradley-cooper-in-jewface-storm-after-leonard-bernstein-trailer-reveals-prosthetic-nose

The family of Leonard Bernstein has released a statement defending Bradley Cooper after online backlash begun about Cooper’s appearance for Leonard Bernstein in ‘MAESTRO’. pic.twitter.com/rcM8IOWdx7

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 16, 2023

apparently Bernstein's children, who were involved in the making of the movie are pro the nose? But it still seems like an odd decision, if Cooper had used his real nose I can't imagine that people would be complaining that he didn't look enough like Leonard Bernstein. If I was Bradley Cooper I wouldn't have gone with the prosthetic nose even if Bernstein's kids were ok with it, just seems not worth the hassle aside from anything else.

As the person quoted in the Guardian points out, if Cooper was able to play the Elephant Man without prosthetics, he could play Bernstein without prosthetics.

yeah, but his resemblance to Joseph Merrick is already uncanny.

I think part of the problem is even before you get to the anti-semitism angle, prosthetic noses are inherently comical, like everyone had fun of Nicole Kidman's prosthetic nose in that fil where she played Virginia Woolf. Are there any examples of acclaimed non-comedy films that feature a lead actor wearing a prosthetic nose?

Raging Bull?

Lawrence of Arabia?

It's completely stupid as Bernstein didn't have a big nose anyway.

Quite a handsome nose if you ask me...

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmY3NDE3MTUtMzIzMy00M2NhLWFmOTAtMTFhNmFlZjBjN2NmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDc2NTEzMw@@._V1_.jpg

Fun fact, Leonard Bernstein actually had a fake nose, and this film is totally true to life. Cooper did his research.

Are there any examples of acclaimed non-comedy films that feature a lead actor wearing a prosthetic nose?

Citizen Kane:

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/orson-welles-obsession-with-his-nose/#

Quite a handsome nose if you ask me...

his children agree

It happens to be true that Leonard Bernstein had a nice, big nose.

Yes, we all know about Raging Bull, Citizen Kane and Lawrence of Arabia, but tbf the original question did ask about *acclaimed* films.

The real problem with that prosthetic nose is that it looks totally unnatural on him, so his appearance becomes a cartoon jew, which may not be the effect they were looking for, but it's what they achieved. They should have noticed that in the rushes and axed the prosthetic as a failure.

I think Bradley Cooper knows what he's doing. He is a graduate of the Actor's Studio after all.

it does seem like a bizarre decision - like, it seemed a stretch to me when people were complaining about a non-Jewish actor playing Robert Oppenheimer, because Cillian Murphy looks convincing enough in the role, it's not like getting a white guy to play Nelson Mandela or something, it seemed like a weird essentialism - but in this case, if you need to stick a fake nose on Bradley Cooper it's like you're accepting that he doesn't look enough like Bernstein to be convincing in the role, it seems like that should be the point where you cast someone else to play Bernstein? (though I think he'd have been fine sans prosthetics anyway, which just makes it weirder)

both Bernstein and Oppenheimer were way more handsome and sexy than the stupid bland actors that have played them this year, an amoeba with a fake nose and a pallid walnut eating freak. This is where I agree with Baddiel tbh - so I probably need to stop posting!

I saw some people on twitter who were unhappy about Carey Mulligan playing Bernstein's wife, who was born in Costa Rica and raised in Chile, so maybe Cooper wore the nose to take the heat off her

the fake nose also has the effect of making Cooper look distractingly like Steve Martin in Dean Men Don't Wear Plaid

As long as Tom Wolfe is played by a dildo, I'm okay

the fake nose also has the effect of making Cooper look distractingly like Steve Martin in Dean Men Don't Wear Plaid

LOL I was thinking he looked like Steve Martin too!

an homage?

As the person quoted in the Guardian points out, if Cooper was able to play the Elephant Man without prosthetics, he could play Bernstein without prosthetics.

― Josh in Chicago,

This person's wrong, I think? The Elephant Man requires the actor to play without prosthetics.

It was Tracy Oberman, she's a fucking idiot.

xpost The more you know! The general point still stands, though. If one can portray Merrick, a person famous for his appearance, without makeup, then one could certainly portray Bernstein, a person not nearly as famous for his appearance, without makeup. It's not like anyone would have complained that Cooper looked nothing like Bernstein, or at least it likely would not have seriously hurt the film. It's like Philip Baker Hall in "Secret Honor." The looks are the least of it.

Quite a handsome nose if you ask me...

It also looks nothing like the fake one.

This "controversy" is so fucking dumb

People are pulling a single screenshot out of the trailer, in which the nose looks weird mostly due to stark lighting and the scene being in black-and-white, and acting like he's wearing a Toucan Sam mask throughout and speaking in a Jerry Lewis voice. In every other scene included in the trailer, the nose doesn't call any attention to itself at all.

I hope the movie starts with Cooper having a tiny button nose which grows through the movie to a full Cyrano de Bergerac.

none of this gets to the point of why need a biopic of Leonard Berstein

no one nose

This is why:

When he was not composing and conducting, Bernstein enjoyed skiing, playing tennis, and engaging in all manner of word games, especially cutthroat anagrams.

there are already movies about leonid brezhnev, lenny bruce, and lester bangs

To clear up any lingering confusion between him and Elmer Bernstein, in my mind at any rate

the nose is bad, but i saw some people saying that only a jewish actor should play a jewish character. i think this is a very strange position.

Only a Libra should play a Libra

Very upset when right handed actors play left handed characters

i saw some people saying that only a jewish actor should play a jewish character

I'm Jewish and that is absurd. As is the fake nose controversy. There's plenty of anti-semitism in 2023 but this does not qualify.