When Hollywood's in-house mailbox Variety announced two weeks ago that Kathryn Hahn was taking on the role of entertainer Joan Rivers in the series "The Comeback Girl", the cast seemed perfect. With appearances in "WandaVision", "We are the Millers" and as one of the "Bad Moms", Hahn is one of the most versatile actresses in the American entertainment industry. Her fans were convinced that no one could better relive Rivers, who died seven years ago - famous for comedy and repartee - on screen.
Sarah Silverman is not quite as happy with the cast. In her podcast, the comedian and actress now referred to Hahn's origins. The forty-eight-year-old was raised Catholic in the Midwest - Joan Alexandra Molinsky, as Rivers was called, but as a child of Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn. “Hollywood has a long tradition of letting Jews play by Gentiles. This is not only true for people who happen to be Jewish, but also for people whose Jewishness defines them, ”said Silverman, who grew up in a Jewish family but is not religious. "You could say that a gentile who plays Joan Rivers is what is called 'Jewface'."
Being Jewish is caricatured through cosmetics, changes in facial features, a big nose and a supposedly Yiddish way of speaking.
"Identity politics is annoying," Silverman said on her podcast.
But it is time that Hollywood became more sensitive to Jewish roles as well.
Allusion to blackfacing
The Emmy Prize winner alluded to the blackface debate that keeps flaring up in Hollywood. Earlier appearances of white celebrities as African Americans, including the presenters Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, had caused upset. Three years ago there was also an uproar when it became known that Scarlett Johansson had played the role of trans man Dante “Tex” Gill as a straight woman in “Rug & Tug”. After allegations that the Golden Globe winner had stolen the role of a trans man, she referred to actors like Jeffrey Tambor ("Transparent") and Felicity Huffman ("Transamerica"), who stood as transgender in front of the camera without being transgender. When the hostility grew louder, Johansson finally thanked for the "occupation debate" and said goodbye to the project.Hahn has not yet responded to Silverman's allegations.