The Anti-Defamation League has launched a Media and Entertainment Institute through which it will engage with the Hollywood community regarding how Jewish people are portrayed in entertainment and media, and how the general society perceives them.
“It’s not uncommon to see Jews in movies and television, but it is most common to see Jews boxed into stereotypes and tropes that create a narrow—and often negative—impression of the Jewish people,” Jonathan A. Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the nonprofit organization that works to fight antisemitism, said in a statement.
“We know that many Americans only learn about Jews and Judaism through the media, and many say they have encountered antisemitic comments or tropes from movies, TV and pop culture. At a time of rising antisemitism, we must take a hard look at how Jews are portrayed onscreen and in culture more broadly.”
Nearly one-third of Americans say they don’t know a Jewish person in real life, according to ADL surveys. The organization’s research also shows the number of Americans who hold antisemitic attitudes toward Jewish people nearly doubled to 20 percent in 2022 compared to 11 percent in 2019, and the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. increased by more than 35 percent from 2021 to 2022.
From Kanye West’s rants to neo-Nazi demonstrations in Florida and other states, antisemitic and white supremacist propaganda continue to climb in the U.S. Earlier this month Elon Musk threatened to sue the ADL for defamation, claiming the organization’s statements about rising hate speech on X, formerly known as Twitter, tanked advertising revenue on the platform. The move spawned some some social media users to go on the offensive against the organization.
This week, a new report from the Center For Countering Digital Hate claims X is blatantly failing to remove neo-Nazi, antisemitic, and racist posts despite being aware of the hate speech they contain. Musk is currently suing the CCDH.
The Anti-Defamation League’s Institute will focus on five key areas:
- Publishing research, including reports evaluating positive and negative Jewish representation in entertainment
- Establishing best practices producers, writers and the creative community can use when developing Jewish characters and storylines
- Educating industry creatives about antisemitism and diverse Jewish narrative representation
- Responding to both positive and negative Jewish content through recognition and accountability, respectively
- Partnering with other media advocacy organizations to support positive portrayals of all marginalized groups
The ADL unveiled its 21-member Entertainment Leadership Council in March. It formally launched the Media and Entertainment Institute on September 12 with a dinner with industry leaders and talent held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
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