Amid Israel's ongoing war with Hamas, Jewish entertainment figures have come together to send an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences criticizing their exclusion from being classified as an underrepresented group.
“An inclusion effort that excludes Jews is steeped in and misunderstands anti-Semitism,” said the letter, organized by the group Jew at the city’s Hollywood Bureau for Jewish Representation. “Excluding Jewish people from the Motion Picture Academy’s standards of representation and inclusion discriminates against a protected class by invalidating their historical and genetic identities.”
The Academy standards, introduced in 2020 as part of the Aperture 2025 diversity initiative, describes a range of identities it considers “underrepresented groups”: women, LGBTQ+, people with cognitive or physical difficulties or who are deaf or hard of hearing, and underrepresented racial or ethnic groups. The standards, which require productions to submit self-identifying demographic information about their cast and crews to qualify for Best Picture, do not require religious status. The JITC letter explains that being Jewish is not always a matter of faith. “While many mistakenly believe that Judaism is just one religion, Jews are actually an ethnic group with a diverse spiritual practice that not all follow. Jews are an indigenous people of the Middle East who have had a continuous presence there for over 3,000 years.”
The racial or ethnic backgrounds outlined in the Academy standards include Asian, Hispanic/Latino, Black/African American, Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native, Middle Eastern/North African, and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. The final item on the list of racial or ethnic groups eligible for the standards is “other underrepresented race or ethnicity.”
The Academy already came under fire for Jewish erasure in 2021 when its museum's long-awaited opening featured no exhibitions honoring Hollywood's Jewish founding fathers; The museum responded with the planned temporary exhibition on the ongoing theme.
The letter challenges the assumption that Jews are well represented in Hollywood, pointing out that representation has been unbalanced since 1927 The jazz singerabout a Jewish musician trying to escape his origins, to the year 2022 Everything everywhere at oncein which Jenny Slate's character was originally called “Big Nose” in the credits (it was changed in the digital release). “Many of them [the Jewish Hollywood] “The founders had internalized shame and self-hatred, which led to Jews in Hollywood often changing their names and telling stories about Jews using caricatures, tropes, appropriation and self-erasure,” the letter said. “There are very few films about Jews, apart from those about the Holocaust. Additionally, when Jewish characters do appear, they are often played by non-Jews, a rare practice among other marginalized groups.” (Hollywood has a history of blackface, Yellowface, brownface and redfaceas well as Casting able-bodied actors to play disabled characters.)
“While Jews have always worked in the industry, the industry has only accepted a certain type of Jew: the weakened Jew,” the letter continued. “A flashier-looking or more observant Jew has never had a home in Hollywood. Despite today’s increased standards of inclusion and diversity, this Jew remains unwelcome.”
So far, around 260 people have signed the letter, including Greg Berlanti, Josh Gad, Mayim Bialik, David Schwimmer, Juliana Margulies, Debra Messing, Friends Executive Producers: Marta Kauffman and Kevin Bright, Michael Rapaport, Tiffany Haddish, Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Dallas, Brett Gelman, Mark Feuerstein, Emanuelle Chriqui, Iliza Schlesinger, The wonderful Mrs. Maisel Creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, House Creator David Shore, will and grace Creator David Kohan, former NBCUniversal TV and streaming chairman Susan Rovner, former MGM chairman and CEO Gary Barber, producer Gail Berman and producer Nancy Spielberg.
Read the full text of the letter below.
Dear Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
We write as actors, directors, producers, executives, agents, screenwriters and other industry professionals. While we applaud the Academy's efforts to promote more diverse and authentic storytelling, inclusion efforts that exclude Jews are steeped in and misunderstood anti-Semitism. It erases the Jewish people and perpetuates myths about Jewish whiteness and power, and that racism against Jews is not a big problem or is a thing of the past.
While many mistakenly believe that Judaism is just one religion, Jews are actually an ethnic group with different spiritual practices that not everyone follows. Jews are an indigenous people of the Middle East who have had a continuous presence there for over 3,000 years. This is not negated by the fact that Jews, like all marginalized groups, include white members. Their colonization and exile led to millennia of persecution, and many Jews still carry the DNA of their foremothers' oppressors. Anti-Semitic incidents are at an all-time high, up 400% since Oct. 7 — and Jews were already the most targeted minority group in the U.S. per capita, according to the 2022 FBI hate crimes report. Hatred on the Internet has also taken hatred of Jews to a new level. Curbing Jews' perceived power has been a pretext for the abuse of Jews for centuries, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition and in Germany in the 1930s.
Systemic racism against Jews in the United States included segregation, redlining, quotas and gatekeeping and was the motivation for Hollywood's founders to create an industry in which anti-Semitism would not harm them. Unfortunately, many of these founders had internalized shame and self-hatred, which led to Jews in Hollywood often changing their names and telling stories about Jews with caricatures, tropes, appropriation, and self-erasure. The first sound film The jazz singerIt was about a Jew who abandoned the customs of his people. This dynamic is still alive today in films released just this year. One of last year's Oscar winners, Everything everywhere at oncecast a Jewish woman in the role of a stereotypical “Jewish American princess” named “Big Nose.”
The absence of Jews in “underrepresented” groups implies that Jews are overrepresented in films, which is simply wrong. Apart from those about the Holocaust, there are very few films about Jews. Additionally, Jewish characters are often played by non-Jews, a rare practice among other marginalized groups. While there have always been Jews working in the industry, the industry has only accommodated a certain type of Jew: the toned-down Jew. A flashier-looking or more observant Jew has never had a home in Hollywood. Despite today's increased standards of inclusion and diversity, this Jew remains unwelcome.
The exclusion of Jewish people from the Motion Picture Academy's standards of representation and inclusion constitutes discrimination against a protected class by invalidating their historical and genetic identities. This must be addressed immediately by including Jews in these standards. We would also like to propose further changes to the representation and inclusion standards. When films use writers and consultants with expertise, pride and cultural competency, when casting is done authentically, when film sets are set up to truly accommodate a diverse group of people, then a space of accommodation, inclusion and authenticity is created. These changes would benefit everyone. There has never been such a space for Jews in Hollywood, and the Motion Picture Academy has the opportunity to combat Jew-hatred by creating a framework for nuanced and authentic representation.
The entertainment world has a duty to do its part to promote holistic and humane portrayals of Jews to increase audience understanding and empathy in these dangerous times. We ask the leadership of the Motion Picture Academy to do their part to advance a just cause that has been ignored for too long.
