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Jackie Mason, who spent three years as an ordained rabbi before launching his six-decade career as a comedian, will claim during a radio show to air Sunday that Hollywood is run by Jews but is nevertheless “anti-Semitic,” “ignorant” and “stupid” when it comes to issues involving Israel.
Mason is a regular guest on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on Salem Radio’s AM 970 The Answer in New York. Host Aaron Klein describes himself politically as an “independent” while Mason has been an outspoken conservative of late. Klein is an American operating from Tel Aviv and his is often considered the only major U.S. radio talk show broadcast from the Middle East. Both he and Mason are staunch supporters of Israel.
In a pre-recorded segment, Klein in Israel asks the 83-year-old entertainer from his home in New York to comment on “Hollywood geniuses” like Selena Gomez, Penelope Cruz and Rihanna, who have criticized Israel for its response to Hamas in an ongoing conflict in Gaza.
“They come from these kinds of anti-Semitic, low-class backgrounds where a Jew is the most disgusting thing in the world to them,” Mason answers, according to audio obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “The ironic thing is that it’s Jewish people who own these Hollywood studios … And they all hire these people and they depend on them for a living. Every penny they made is made from Jews and they hate every Jew just by nature.”
Though Mason seems to go off on celebrities and Hollywood in general, Klein’s question was specifically based on comments recently made by Rihanna, Gomez and especially Cruz, who signed with other Spanish film stars an open letter denouncing Israel for engaging in “genocide.”
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