Jewish Groups Outraged at Joan Rivers’ Joke about the Holocaust, but She’s Not Apologizing to Anyone
Comedian Joan Rivers made a joke about the Holocaust and has no intention of apologizing for it. The comedian, who is no stranger to controversy, is holding her ground, stating that her joke was only meant to bring awareness to the suffering that Jews experienced many years ago.
Rivers, while appearing Monday on “Fashion Police” on E!, talked about the dress model Heidi Klum wore to the Academy Awards, she said, “The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens.”
And while some people laughed it off as just another Joan Rivers quip, the Anti-Defamation League has a real problem with the comedienne, who is Jewish.
The Anti-Defamation League called the remark “vulgar and hideous,” and demanded that Rivers apologize.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, said in a statement posted on their website, “Of all people, Joan Rivers should know better. This remark is so vulgar and offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors, and indeed to all Americans, that we cannot believe it made it to the airwaves. There are certain things about the Holocaust that should be taboo. This is especially true for Jews, for whom the Holocaust is still a deeply painful memory.”
The website said Foxman is a Holocaust survivor.
Foxman went on to say, “Making it worse, not one of her co-hosts made any effort to respond or to condemn this hideous statement, leaving it hanging out there and giving it added legitimacy through their silence. Almost as bad as her original comment is the fact that she sat there doubled over with laughter after saying it.”
But Rivers, on HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight” said, “It’s a joke No. 1. No. 2 it is about the Holocaust. This is the way I remind people about the Holocaust. I do it through humor.”
Host of the show, A. J. Hammer, asked Rivers why she won’t apologize and she replied, “For what?” She also said critics should focus on people who actually dislike Jewish people, and not a woman whose late husband lost his entire family during the n**i holocaust. In her mind, she’s earned the right to make this joke and doesn’t seem to care if anyone is upset about it.
Rivers ran afoul of the ADL last year, while protesting Costco’s decision not to carry her book, “I Hate Everything …Starting With Me.” She compared the retailer to n**i Germany.
“Germany is where banning books started, and it can start here just as quickly,” she said at the time. After she was criticized, Rivers quipped, “Don’t talk to me about the Holocaust!”
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