Actor Seth Rogen has come out of the closet, detailing an antisemitic experience he once had.
Seth Rogen’s recently published, candid collection of essays “Yearbook” is filled with stories, harrowing and hilarious, from the frontlines of his days in Hollywood as a comic and actor. One such tale to emerge is an anti-Semitic tirade he and actor Jonah Hill experienced in an elevator in Las Vegas, where they ran into comedian Eddie Griffin. (Via Uproxx.)
“I’m glad I saw you guys,” Eddie Griffin said, according to Hill in a chapter of “Yearbook,” when bumping into Rogen and Hill. “I saw your movie. The high school movie,” Griffin said. (Rogen and Hill collaborated on the 2007 high school comedy “Superbad,” among other films including “Sausage Party” and “This is the End.”)
“I’ve been trying to make a movie for a while now, but no one will make it. But they made yours. And you know why?” Griffin asked
“No, why?” Rogen asked.
“Because I’m Black, and you’re Jewish, motherf***ers,” Griffin told Rogen, according to the book.
Rogen said at first he thought Griffin’s comments were simply a bad joke. “Oh yeah, what do you mean by that?” Rogen asked.
“I mean, you Jewish motherf***ers run Hollywood, and you only make movies with other Jewish motherf***ers.”
“Oh,” Rogen thought. “This isn’t a joke. This dude is just going on some anti-Semitic tirade.”
“Sorry, I guess?” said Hill, awkwardly trying to navigate the situation.
“Don’t be sorry,” Griffin said. “Tell your Jews to let other people make some movies.”
After the elevator ride was over, Rogen recalled trying to process exactly what had just happened. “It’s insane because he’s ignoring the fact that if there’s one thing the Jewish people are not above, it’s making money producing things that are fronted by Black people,” Rogen wrote. “Anyone who has ever seen a biopic of a Black musician knows the character I’m talking about, and he’s usually very appropriately played by my dear friend David Krumholtz.”
The truly amazing thing about this story is how Rogen could move on from such an experience to become someone who bullies those who fight antisemitism, and turns a blind eye to the bullying of actual antisemites, even repeating their talking points.
Note also his conclusion to the accusation that “you Jewish motherf***ers run Hollywood”:
It’s insane because he’s ignoring the fact that if there’s one thing the Jewish people are not above, it’s making money producing things that are fronted by Black people
In other words: “yes, we run Hollywood, but we allow Black people to represent.”
Rogen got antisemitism-ed
and the experience just seems to something he can write about for a book he is selling – and not much more.
Hat tip: Jon
