Brits Pan Jackie Mason
Maybe organizers of the British Zionist Federation’s “Israel 60” gala didn’t make the smartest choice when they tapped Jackie Mason as one of the headliners. Indeed, one British rabbi, writing in advance of the event, called the American comedian “a terrible choice,” noting that the lofty values contained in Israel’s Declaration of Independence “are far removed from the kind of stereotyping of which Jackie Mason’s work is full.” And sure enough, the Borscht Belt comic’s ethnically charged shtick didn’t seem to play well with the thousands assembled at London’s Wembley Arena. The reviewer from Britain’s Jewish Chronicle wrote that Mason “went down like a lead gefilte fish.” Attendees who spoke to the newspaper weren’t laughing, either. “I couldn’t bear it,” Donna Sherrington told the newspaper. “I didn’t want to watch. I can’t believe people still say things like that.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
