Jonathan Turley likes to begin his posts on oft-visited topics (like speech suppression on progressive college campuses) by reviewing all of his past posts on the matter. If I started this post like that and listed all of the ridiculous, hypocritical, wokey, DEI-inspired casting ethics controversies EA has highlighted, there would be no room for the post itself. But I will supply a sampling…
Let’s see: a black actress can play Anne Boleyn, and James Earl Jones can play the Celtic King Lear, but a white actor is engaged in racism by playing Othello. Hmmm. Gay Hollywood actors (most of them are, after all) can play straight characters, but Tom Hanks apologized for playing a gay character (and winning an Oscar for it) in “Philadelphia.” Lou Diamond Phillips simultaneously asserted that as a Filipino actor he is entitled to play anyone—after all, he has made his living playing Hispanics, South Americans and Native Americans— then in the same interview said “I happen to agree that casting Caucasian people in what are supposed to be ethnic roles is not kosher.”
Yes, it’s Calvinball! The minority communities, supported by progressive DEI fanatics, make up the rules as they go along—whatever keeps whites, heterosexuals and non-disabled actors out of roles. Back in 2019, I designated this “the dumbest casting controversy yet”: that was when Bryan Cranston was criticized for playing a quadriplegic without being actually paralyzed from the neck down. Well, the DEI maniacs have gone way, way beyond that, and conveniently, the most recent ridiculous Calvinball installment is relevant to today’s nonsense.
Less than a month ago, the film “Oppenheimer” was attacked because the man cast as the atom bomb’s daddy was only a dead ringer for the scientist and a terrific actor, when what was really important was that Oppenheimer be played by a Jew. My headline was “I Know It’s Too Easy But I Can’t Resist: “An Irish Actor Playing Oppenheimer Proves Once Again That Jews Don’t Count” May Be The Most Hilariously Confused Casting Ethics Rant Yet.”
Predictably, the DEI Nazis said “Hold my beer!” From the Daily Mail:
Bradley Cooper has been accused of ‘stealing’ the role of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein from half-Jewish actor Jake Gyllenhaal after he was slammed for donning a large prosthetic nose for the part. Cooper, 48, has been accused of being anti-Semitic by critics who feel he took the role from Gyllenhaal, 42, He has also faced accusations of “Jewface.”
That’s the cue to warm up your mockery engines, folks. More:
New York City-based group Stop Anti-Semites tweeted a picture of Bernstein, before launching an attack on Cooper. They tweeted: ‘Hollywood cast Bradley Cooper – a non-Jew – to play Jewish legend Leonard Bernstein and stuck a disgusting exaggerated ‘Jew nose’ on him.All while saying no to Jake Gyllenhaal, an actually Jewish man, who has dreamt of playing Bernstein for decades. Sickening.’
That’s one of my favorite idiotic woke rants ever! To begin with, Bernstein wasn’t a”Jewish legend,” he was a musical and entertainment legend. I loved his Sunday afternoon concerts for children that were TV highlights of the era when there was occasional quality programing on the networks; I loved his flamboyant conducting style; I loved his music for “Candide” and “West Side Story.” I didn’t think of Bernstein as a Jew—he was just a talented, neat guy who made the U.S. a better place for his living in it.
Second, as a stage director who’s done a lot of casting, I know—not that this is a secret or anything—that it is important to try to cast an actor who will portray a well-recognized historical figure someone who looks as much like the subject as possible, perhaps with the addition of some key features through the use of make-up. (They put “Abeface” on Daniel Day Lewis to help him look more like Lincoln in “Lincoln”). They didn’t put a “Jew nose” on Cooper; it’s a Bernstein nose. The conductor’s family gets it:
Finally, as an extra treat, the Stop Anti-Semites proposed a brand new Calvinball rule: an actor should get dibs on a role because he’s dreamed about it.
The only way this most ludicrous of DEI indoctrination strategies will be eradicated is by merciless, fearless, overwhelming mockery. Don’t even give these ridiculous bigots and logically impaired political correctness bullies the benefit of “well, you’re welcome to your opinion.” They should know that they are welcome to spew stupid accusations, and the rest of us are welcome to point and laugh. And will. Loudly.
________________
Pointer: Neil Dorr
Ethics Alarms 
So I guess I shouldn’t tell the joke about what happens when a Jew with an erection walks into a wall?🤣
Trivial tangent: Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim got writer’s credits on the song Gutter Cats vs. the Jets on Alice Cooper’s School’s Out album. The Alice Cooper Group pulled some of the lyrics and music from West Side Story.
-Jut
Did lawyers have to get involved first, I wonder? I recall John Lennon liked to borrow lyric snippets from other songs and got in hot water for it a few times.
Not to my knowledge. They were big fans of West Side Story, so I think it was a deliberate tribute. They were playing up the theatrics at that time, as well. Also, at that point, they were probably savvy enough to include them both legally and to bolster their own image.
Incidentally, their second album (School’s Out was their fifth) was called Easy Action (pulled from West Side Story), and one of the songs off that album, Still No Air, quoted some of the same lines from West Side Story, but did not give credit to them. That album was a commercial failure, anyway, so I doubt lawyers got involved then, either. If they had, Bernstein might have ended up owing them money on that song.
-Jut
Alice Cooper. Nice Jewish boy from Scottsdale, Arizona.
I’m pretty curious about this Bernstein bio-pic.
I’ve read his letters. What a delightful book. An incredible person. Perhaps the most significant American composer, and perhaps even classical musician, of the 20th Century. And, like so many, a Russian Jew. Amazing. I’d rank him above Aaron Copeland. Copeland was more prolific and the best at doing Aaron Copeland music, but Bernstein was much more original. And he was one of the Vienna Philharmonic’s favorite Beethoven conductors. When the Vienna Philharmonic was all a bunch of Austrian guys. And Austria is reputed to be, to this day, among the most Anti-Semitic countries in Europe.
He was a homosexual in the era (1940s and beyond) when homosexuality was considered a mental illness. He was “treated” for his disease for years on end. His heterosexual, Catholic, actress wife tolerated Lennie’s wandering as long as he kept it on the low down. The marriage cratered when, late in life, Lennie took up residence openly with a young guy, violating the marital terms his wife had laid down. Pretty sad. I wonder whether the LGBTetc. “community” will throw some sort of fit or fits about the movie.
Agreed as to the young peoples’ concerts. What an incredibly delightful man. Such a charming public persona. Unparalleled. There are lots of YouTube videos available where he holds forth on all sorts of musical topics. A near polymath.
They should show some pictures of him in his later years. His schnoz became more prominent as time passed, but he was, to the end, a very handsome, charming and attractive guy.
And unfortunately, on the negative side of the scale, he was reputed to be a viciously predatory guy when it came to young gay gays.
Yeah, I decided not to get into that. Bernstein’s gay predations were a more prominent side of his reputation than his Jewishness. I wonder if Tom Hanks thinks only gay actors would play Lenny?
I don’t understand how people can make everything about racism and not notice they are being racist. Is it cognitive bias? Willful indifference? Malice?
I’m sorry, but “Jewface” itself sounds like an ethnic slur.
-Jut
Nice catch! Exactly!
I guess I need to go to confession or perhaps scourge myself. I’ve played the role of the dentist and the father in a production of “Ann Frank, I have had numerous roles in Fiddler, including Tevya. In a production of “Rimers of Elriich, I had three parts- 1. a tree, 2. a Southern truck driver, and 3.A Baptist preacher. I was a sailor in South Pacific, a southern father in “The Miracle Worker. One of Jets in Westside story one year and a Shark the next. In junior highs schhol I was awarded the best Dancer Award for the Hora. The list could go on but the point is I am not Jewish, a tree, a truck driver, aa baptist, a sailor , a gang memeber or the father of a blind girl.
I agree. Generally.
First, let me state up front that Henry Bial, the scholar of Jewish performance who appears in the TMZ interview about this story, is a friend.
He’s certainly correct that exaggerated proboscises have indeed been part of the anti-Semite’s playbook for a millennium or so. I’m not sure I’d agree that the prosthetic nose was “an unfortunate choice,” but he does make the interesting point that there was no outcry when Oppenheimer opened with (Gentile) Cillian Murphy in the title role, “but, of course, he wasn’t wearing a fake nose.”
He does acknowledge that the family’s imprimatur “changes the equation again and suggests that… Bradley Cooper has been really doing the homework, the labor, that we would expect a great actor to do, of doing a respectful, authentic portrayal, and not just reaching into the grab-bag of Jewish stereotypes….”
He also says he’s “not sure you can necessarily separate Bernstein’s career arc from his Jewishness, because, I think, to be a Jew in the entertainment industry in America in the 20th century shapes some of what that experience is, but I do believe that a non-Jewish actor, again, if they’re willing to do the work… can authentically represent that, that they don’t have to have had exactly that same experience themself.”
Henry is also quoted elsewhere arguing that the term “Jewface” suggests an attempt to dehumanize the Jewish people, but Cooper isn’t doing that at all. So, all in all, Henry’s critique seems pretty balanced and pretty accurate to me. Do I agree with all the nuances of his commentary? No. Is he being a little over-sensitive? Perhaps. But I also grant his point that “it’s easier to say you don’t care about the anti-Semitic tropes if you’re not Jewish.”
One other point: I’m not convinced that the prosthetic nose makes Cooper look more like Bernstein, and, for example in the photo included in Jack’s post, it does rather call attention to itself. Perhaps it’s just the angle of the image, but it looks rather unnatural to me… and that would be a problem. This isn’t Cyrano de Bergerac we’re talking about here. So I might have a problem with this prosthetic nose.
For me, this one boils down to this: were I directing this film, I probably wouldn’t have had Cooper use a prosthetic nose. But I find it difficult to work up much outrage over the decision.
1. I find that critics especially over-obsess about fake noses, just like they do over accents. David Morse’s fake nose in “John Adams” was criticized by some critics,but he looked like Washington and his performance was, I felt, spot on. If you were watching his nose, you really were missing the point.
2. I agree that that one photo made the nose look a bit over-done: other photos from the film look better. My first thought was: “Wow, that looks like John Kasinsky’s nose!”(I had just seen “Jack Ryan.” Kasinsky’s playing an Irish-American, and good for him.)
3. “there was no outcry when Oppenheimer opened with (Gentile) Cillian Murphy in the title role, “but, of course, he wasn’t wearing a fake nose.” But there was some outcry, as we discussed here, and Murphy didn’t need a nose: he looks like Oppenheiner anyway!