Hollywood's relative silence over the rise in antisemitism has been stunning to behold.
The stars who have consistently spoken out is so small we can swiftly name them:
- Debra Messing
- John Ondrasik (Five for Fighting)
- Patricia Heaton
- Michael Rapaport
- Jerry Seinfeld
- David Schwimmer
- David Draiman (Disturbed)
That's more or less it. The rest of the celebrity class has stood down, including prominent Jewish stars like Steven Spielberg. The man who directed "Schindler's List" has been mostly mum on the cultural scourge. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. He doesn't have a platform from which to weigh in on these issues beyond the occasional film interview.
Still, his absence from the conversation has been disappointing.
One Jewish comedian has had a weekly pulpit from which he could weigh in on the subject, from the crush of artists canceled for their pro-Israel views to the campus hate spreading across coastal universities.
That's Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" fame.
He has the pop culture gravitas and writing team to let him satirize the hate that has bubbled up over the last two-plus years following the Oct. 7 atrocities. Yet he hasn't used his platform to consistently weigh in on the subject.
No monologues attacking the Democrats' "Michigan Problem," for example, or rants bashing Vice President Kamala Harris for passing on Gov. Josh Shapiro as her 2024 running mate.
Too problematic, perhaps?
Now, Stewart is throwing his weight behind the Democrats' likely candidate to challenge Rep. Sen. Susan Collins in Maine. That's Graham Platner, a politician with a checkered past.
How checkered? Just look at his chest.
Platner had a Nazi tattoo there for more than a decade. Platner originally denied he knew what the Totenkopf tattoo symbolized, but later reporting showed he likely knew exactly what the image meant.
He recently had it covered up.
That, plus Platner's past pro-Hamas commentary (in addition to a long run of extremely problematic comments) make him a terrible candidate for any national office.
That's the political calculation behind his candidacy. But what about his antisemitic past? Wouldn't that give a Jewish interviewer like Stewart pause?
Apparently not.
Newsbusters reports that Stewart gave Platner a chummy interview earlier this week on his "Weekly Show" podcast. First, Stewart compared him to a classic movie underdog.
...here's, kind of, always the fable of a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a kind of, you know, an honest man who has real ideals facing off against a corrupt system that is fueled by money and toxicity and all these—so there is an archetype for this.
Later, Stewart brought up the tattoo issue without mentioning its Nazi roots. He did so while thoroughly explaining away the matter, sweeping it under the electoral rug so listeners could see Platner as a changed man.
Platner's PR team couldn't have scripted the exchange any better.
Once upon a time, Stewart was the Left-leaning voice behind "The Daily Show." His politics were clear, but he'd regularly tweak both sides of the aisle, earning a begrudging fan base among some conservatives. He set the mold for the modern late-night talk show, a format focusing more on partisan posturing than pure comedy.
That Jon Stewart is long gone.
This exchange marks a new low both for the veteran comic and the Democrats. Maybe the party has a Stewart problem, too.
