Popular comedian Chelsea Handler received criticism after she praised noted anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan for his “powerful” comments on race.
“I have learned a lot from watching this powerful video” she wrote on a post featuring a video of Farrakhan on the Phil Donahue show.
Here’s the original post:
Handler responded in the comments to people who took objection to the post. One commenter asked if she’d post something “powerful” from Hitler if video surfaced of him saying something positive. Handler said “no, because hitler was responsible for killing millions of lives. Farrakhan is just responsible for his own promotion of anti Semitic beliefs. They are very different.”
She followed that up by arguing Farrakhan’s “anti-Semitic views took form during his own oppression. We now know oppression of one race leads to oppression of all races.”
Criticisms came quickly. “So basically Chelsea Handler thinks being anti-Semitic is okay if you haven’t killed millions of people and also the Jews are probably the cause of it in the first place,” said Bethany Mandel.
Jonah Goldberg said, “It’s a pretty textbook example of how maximums can become minimums. Hitler goes from being the worst, to being the threshold for being bad. ‘Not as bad as Hitler’ becomes a kind of exoneration, when it’s like saying ‘Not as hot as the surface of the sun.’
In a time where people are allegedly seeking justice and equality, it would seem the Jewish community continues being singled out and targeted to this day.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has repeatedly harassed and targeted orthodox Jews while allowing protesters to gather in large numbers.