Joan Rivers blasted over Shoah joke
Anti-Defamation League demands apology from Jewish comedian for telling supermodel Heidi Klum on TV show, 'The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens'
Yet a recent comment has sparked fury from the Anti-Defamation League, which is now demanding a public apology.
On Monday night’s episode of "Fashion Police," Rivers delivered a "compliment" to German-born supermodel Heidi Klum. Referencing a beautiful dress, Rivers stated that "the last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens."
On Wednesday, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman released a statement calling the remark "vulgar and offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors, and indeed to all Americans.
"There are certain things about the Holocaust that should be taboo," Foxman continued. "This is especially true for Jews, for whom the Holocaust is still a deeply painful memory.
"It is vulgar and offensive for anybody to use the death of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to make a joke, but this is especially true for someone who is Jewish and who proudly and publicly wears her Jewishness on her sleeve," he continued.
"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," Foxman said, in reference to Giuliana Rancic, Kelly Osborne and George Kotsiopoulos.
The ADL sent an official letter to E!, demanding that Rivers issue a formal apology. The last time they sought out an apology from Rivers, she simply told them to "shut the f*** up."
This time around, she did not respond directly to the ADL, but did comment to the Hollywood Reporter, saying "my husband lost the majority of his family at Auschwitz and I can assure you that I have always made it a point to remind people of the Holocaust through humor."
Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life
