Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Larry David Reveals He’s Related To Bernie Sanders

One of the great things about being a celebrity is you don’t have to order a kit on “23AndMe” to find out you’re 1/32 American Indian (congratulations but you still can’t wear a feather headdress to Coachella). Instead, you can find out everything you want to know about your family’s history on the PBS series “Finding Your Roots”.

PBS most recently enlisted Larry David to explore his ancestry on national television. Unlike Ben Affleck, who found himself in hot water after keeping “Finding Your Roots” from airing the news that he’s descended from a white slaveowner (Ben Affleck, what did you expect, honey?), Larry David got just about the best news you could hope for short of “Oprah’s your mom”: he’s related to everybody’s favorite grandfather, Bernie Sanders.

Apparently, David and Sanders are “distant cousins”, a fun fact David let slip at a recent promotional Q&A for the new season of “Curb”. David’s episode of “Finding Your Roots” hasn’t aired yet so we’re not supposed to know but we can all keep a secret, right?

It’s disappointing that Larry David is only Sanders’ third cousin instead of his illegitimate son but David should be thrilled nonetheless to be related to the only man on Earth to both vote against the Iraq War AND release a 1970s folk album for which he is STILL RECEIVING ROYALTIES.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

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

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.