The latest crisis in Israel and Gaza has divided communities and friendships, but most of us can at least agree that Amy Schumer needs a timeout from her phone.
In her most recent Instagram post, Schumer described herself as “the most successful female comedian of all time.” She’s clearly out of touch, but that was already made evident as a result of her numerous pro-Israel posts in which she has rationalized Israel’s collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, rejected helpful advice and critical pushback, and abused her influence to punch down and claim victimhood.
I believe we would be better off ignoring the “deep thoughts” of most celebrities during a conflict that has decades of layers, context, and pain. We don’t need to hear Ja Rule’s opinions on every crisis or read a carefully curated social media post most likely written by a publicist. (Although, if you’re a celebrity and have to say something, follow Angelina Jolie’s lead.)
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It’s important to focus on Schumer’s posts, however, because they illustrate the obscene double standards, lack of accountability, and asymmetry at play when it comes to the dehumanization of Palestinians and Muslims in America. Schumer’s comments help us reflect on who gets a pass for expressing genocidal tendencies. Who is allowed to fail up, while others are censored and permanently punished?
In a since-deleted Instagram post from Oct. 24, Schumer shared a single-panel comic that portrayed American pro-Palestinian supporters holding posters and signs that read “Gazans rape Jewish girls only in self-defense,” and “Proud of our rapist martyrs.” In addition to her outrageous and inflammatory claims, Schumer felt perfectly fine posting a cartoon that blamed all Gazans instead of Hamas, the militant organization that controls Gaza and was responsible for committing war crimes and killing 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. Ever since the 9/11 terror attacks, Muslims, Palestinians, and Arabs have become interchangeable with Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, chocolate hummus, and every other extremist abomination. As such we must condemn violent acts done by violent people we’ve never met. Our stories, and our humanity, are flattened, and otherwise decent individuals—and not-so-decent individuals—become comfortable unleashing violence and genocidal policies against our “barbaric” communities.
These double standards weren’t lost on actress Asia Jackson, who tweeted, “It’s so crazy to me how Bella & Gigi (Hadid) had to tiptoe around their statements, then Amy Schumer is like ‘Gazans are rapists’ and will still have a career.”
Speaking about careers, Schumer also posted that editors and journalists from prestigious outlets should be fired for allegedly “stoking anti-Jewish hatred worldwide” after initially publishing an incorrect story about an Israeli rocket destroying a hospital in Gaza. Well, she will be pleased to learn that many writers are now losing their jobs for the crime of simply advocating for Palestinian rights. This includes Michael Eisen, who is Jewish and lost his job as editor-in-chief of the scientific journal eLife for simply retweeting a satirical Onion article with the title, “Dying Gazans Criticized For Not Using Last Words to Condemn Hamas,” and David Velasco, the editor-in-chief of Artforum, who was fired for signing an open letter that called for Palestinian liberation and “an end to the killing and harming of all civilians.”
Student groups are also being targeted and doxxed. Authors are having their events canceled, and there’s a chilling effect where people are worried that anything advocating for Palestinians might become a career-ending offense. This even affects superstar celebrities, such as the aforementioned Hadid sisters. The models are proud Palestinians, whose father’s family became refugees after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. After Gigi’s post was called out by the State of Israel, the Hadids were subjected to daily death threats and doxxing, prompting the typically outspoken Bella Hadid to remain silent online for two weeks.
Meanwhile, comedian Sarah Silverman felt no such need to be silent. She shared a post by user @elianaeatz that supported Israel cutting off water and electricity to Gaza until Hamas releases all the hostages.
Denying basic human necessities to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, half of whom are children living in an “open-air prison” according to human rights organizations, was apparently a perfectly acceptable trade-off for Silverman, who is allegedly progressive on everything except Palestine. She took down the post after shocked reactions from her fans and chalked up the “mistake” to “stoned fury.” She’ll be suiting up to guest host The Daily Show next week, which makes me wonder if other celebrities can use being stoned as an excuse if they temporarily advocate for war crimes against innocent Israeli citizens.
Asia Jackson, who is a young Black actress with nowhere near the platform or star status of Hadids, might have to try out the “stoned” defense if she gets backlash for calling out Schumer. After Jackson’s tweet went viral, Schumer messaged her and proceeded to call her antisemitic and claimed she was not educated about the history of the Jewish people. “Did something I posted about my people being massacred offend you?” Schumer asked in screenshots from their conversations shared by Jackson on Twitter.
“The Islamophobia and generalization of Gazan people did,” Jackson replied, who also mentioned Schumer’s alleged history of racist material going back to 2015.
In their exchange, Schumer explained to her how she feels unsafe as a Jewish woman in America right now. Antisemitism is unfortunately very real and skyrocketing in the aftermath of this crisis according to recent testimony by FBI director Christopher Wray. Jewish communities and students feel threatened and deserve to be safe. Jews, and Muslims, are not responsible for the violence in Israel and Gaza, but our communities are the ones most targeted. It was evident last night on Fox News, when host Jesse Watters comfortably and confidently declared, “I want to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world… we’ve had it with them.”
Instead of building coalitions, it’s wild that Schumer—a wealthy, privileged multi-millionaire—would feel the need to lecture Jackson, a Black woman, about feeling unsafe and threatened in America.
Not to be outdone, Schumer, like so many white women before her, decided to selectively use Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to advance her political agenda while conveniently ignoring all of his other statements that call out white supremacy and the abuses of power. She posted an MLK video in which he stated Israel “has the right to exist” and that antisemitism is wrong, unjust, and evil. Another Black woman, this time MLK’s daughter Bernice King, came with the receipts to give Schumer the big picture.
“Amy: Certainly, my father was against anti-Semitism, as am I,” King wrote in a message to her post. “He also believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils. I am certain he would call for Israel’s bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released…and for us to work for true peace, which includes justice.”
In light of all the helpful feedback and criticism, Schumer published a post Tuesday night that at first seemed to reveal some growth and understanding. She wrote, “We are all in a lot of pain. What hurts the most is that we actually love each other.” Unfortunately, in true Schumer fashion, it quickly became a train wreck. She ended it by saying, “You hate Jews. You don’t know why. I still love you.”
It seems Schumer still hasn’t figured out why her posts are problematic, but unlike so many others who are punished for expressing sympathy and support for Palestinian rights, she will almost certainly be able to rage-post her way through it, comfortable in the knowledge that despite any short-term backlash, another opportunity will always on the horizon.
After all, we have all learned there’s no real cost for hating on Palestinians and Muslims.
