David Schwimmer has called out his Hollywood peers for not speaking up about antisemitism.
The Friends star, 58, spoke at the Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference in New York City earlier this week where he pleaded with his fellow celebrities and “heroes” to publicly call out hate speech.
“Plenty of people I respect, even some of my heroes in entertainment, music and sports, have chosen to keep a low profile and sit this one out, including some whose careers have been made by leaning into their Jewish identity, and others who have won acclaim for playing Jews on screen,” he said.
“Some of them are doing a lot behind the scenes, privately and in their own way, but so many have chosen not to say anything publicly at all.”
Schwimmer continued: “And if I can say something directly to them: I really wish you would.”
Addressing the stars directly, the actor said: “I wish you would stand up. I wish you would speak out, because your voice would be so meaningful to your fans who love you, to your community members who need you, to folks who can use just a little solidarity right now.
“No one’s asking you to solve the conflict of the Middle East. Just say that you stand with your Jewish friends, colleagues, and neighbours against hatred and what’s happening on our college campuses and in our schools and to Jewish-owned businesses is totally unacceptable.”
Schwimmer’s speech comes a month after he called on Elon Musk to ban Kanye West, from X over his “hate-filled, ignorant” antisemitic rant in February.
The actor pointed to a number of posts by the rapper in a lengthy post to his eight million followers on Instagram.
In a series of shocking posts, West, now known as Ye, had written: “I’m a Nazi,” and “I don’t like or trust no Jewish person, and this is completely sober with no Hennessy.”
“This is so 2022,” said Schwimmer in response. “We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate-filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr Musk.”
“His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews,” the actor said. “I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he identifies as a Nazi (which implies he wants to exterminate ALL marginalized communities including his own) or the fact that there is not sufficient OUTRAGE to remove and ban him from all social media at this point.”
“Silence is complicity,” he concluded.
X did not respond to The Independent’s request for comment at the time.
Schwimmer was not the only one to call out the SpaceX CEO last month.
Broadcaster Piers Morgan also addressed the Tesla founder, writing: “Hey @elonmusk – how much more disgustingly hateful, racist, antisemitic, violence-inducing stuff from Kanye are you going to allow him to spew on your platform to his 32 million followers?”
In January, the ADL came under fire for defending Musk after the tech billionaire appeared to make a Nazi salute at an inauguration rally for US president Donald Trump.
In a social media post, the ADL dismissed Musk’s raised arm as an “awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm”.
Days after, however, the ADL did call out the tech CEO for making light of the Holocaust with a series of Nazi “jokes”.
Musk had mocked the controversy over his salute with a series of quips on X featuring word play with the names of some of Adolf Hitler’s leading Nazis, including Rudolph Hess, Joseph Goebels, Hermann Göring and Heinrich Himmler, who played key roles in killing six million Jews.
