Example 2,941 that people are too sensitive today–Bradley Cooper was under fire for appearing in a movie trailer with a fake nose many deemed too big and so Antisemitic.
Wait, what?!
Yes, a movie trailer and a beloved actor targeted for antisemitism. This is America today where, even in Hollywood, we struggle with Cancel Culture over faulty prosthetics and bad makeup. This was the fate of the national trailer premiere for the Netflix film Maestro.
Does anything about the trailer bother you? Was there anything offensive about the dialogue? No, but then again, people weren’t listening to Bradley Cooper’s words. Evidently, his nose got in the way of common sense.
Nosing Around Antisemitic Thoughts
That trailer is something of a time warp–a trip to a different time and place. That was life for the incomparable conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bradley Cooper helped to write and produce this labor of love. He also stars as Bernstein and directs himself and his co-star Carey Mulligan. Not for nothing, but people are talking up Mulligan in the Best Actress conversation for her hypnotizing portrayal of Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.
When that trailer dropped nationwide, cinephiles and critics alike swooned because of the compelling score and riveting cinematography. Regretfully, all that remains is an argument over stereotypical culture and religion over “Jewface,” which is–as Variety pointed out, “Hollywood’s inauthentic portrayal of Jewish people.”
Name a culture or creed of people outside of everyday “white folk,” and you will find an outrageously vilified caricature depicted anywhere in arts and entertainment. Numerous examples of those awful samples have been banned, outlawed, and targeted for the bigoted samples of hate they are. Name a religion, get a stereotype. List a culture, get pigeonholed. That’s where we are today.
Without even asking for meaning or motive, the antisemitic hate rained on Cooper like cows in the movie Twister. The guy was relentlessly pelted with Jewish-hating, religion-contorting and crazy-stereotyping commentary.
A nonprofit group, Stop Antisemitism, called the trailer (specifically, that nose) “sickening.” British-Jewish actress Tracy Ann Oberman equivocated the plastic piece to “Blackface.”
“If Bradley Cooper can’t [portray Bernstein] through the power or acting alone then don’t cast him – get a Jewish Actor,” she wrote. “Bradley Cooper managed to play the Elephant Man without a single prosthetic then he should be able to manage to play a Jewish man without one.”
Was all this mess really about a nose, or is the issue something deeper?
This Smells to High Heaven
Until the Rapture, there will be an argument if antisemitism is racial or religious.
When most people think about “antisemitism,” thoughts of the Holocaust come to mind, and millions of innocent people were murdered for their culture. This racialized vantage point has existed since the 1400s with The Spanish Inquisition.
For two centuries, Jews and Muslims were captured, tortured, forced to renounce Judaism or Islam, and then killed. (Maybe that’s how people got the idea in Muslim countries to kill Christians for the same thing.) This was an act of the Catholic Church, not a Christian Savior.
The Papacy was corrupt then, as some pulpits are today. Spaniards generalized people as a “race” or a “creed.” They presumed fixed traits and stern beliefs. It was a threat. So, they forced those unsuspecting Jews and Muslims to comply. Five centuries later, it still happens today.
Vengeance is mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them. (Deuteronomy 32:35 NKJV)
In other words, those clouds are getting dark and hanging low. If you hate God’s people because of who they are, duck. Something’s about to fall!
A Breath of Fresh Air
So, is being Antisemitic racial or religious? The answer is a simple “Yes.”
People get it wrong every day, as in this absurd case over Leonard Bernstein’s nose. The man mattered. He co-created Westside Story and composed the score for On the Waterfront. From opera to Broadway, Bernstein’s prints line the streets of New York like litter after a New Year’s Eve party in Times Square.
And now, this.
Bradley Cooper was diligent to ensure his work was blessed. The prolific composer’s children–Jamie, Alexander, and Nina–even spoke out against hate and condemnatory finger-pointing.
“Bradley Cooper included the three of us along every step of his amazing journey as he made his film about our father. We were touched to the core to witness the depth of his commitment, his loving embrace of our father’s music, and the sheer open-hearted joy he brought to his exploration.”
So, there’s that. Yet, if that wasn’t good enough to assuage the berating, the Anti-Defamation League put their foot forward and stood up for Bradley Cooper.
“Throughout history, Jews were often portrayed in antisemitic films and propaganda as evil caricatures with large, hooked noses,” the ADL said in a statement to Variety. “This film, which is a biopic on the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein, is not that.”
Is Bradley Cooper a bigot? Based on a wax nose?! Absolutely not. Is this ridiculous argument proof that we still have an ethical and moral problem with religion and race? Most definitely. The day is at hand. We need to get busy, Church. There’s work to do.
“Maestro” will serve as the spotlight gala film at the New York Film Festival on Oct. 2. The movie will have a limited theatrical window starting November 22 before hitting Netflix December 20.
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