Norway TV Jokes About ‘No Jews’ Clause
A comedy sketch on Norway’s public broadcasting television satirized the banning of Jews by the county’s first constitution.
The sketch broadcast Sunday on NRK, the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, was part of celebrations to mark the constitution’s 200th year.
The clause banning Jews from entering Norway was part of the original constitution in 1814 and was lifted in 1851.
“It is shocking and embarrassing to create humor from this clause, which shut the Jews out of our country,” said Dagrun Eriksen, deputy chairman of the Christian Democratic Party, according to TheLocal.no. “The Jewish clause is part of our dark history. As a nation we must take responsibility for this and not make flippant skits out of it.”
Charlo Halvorsen, entertainment editor for NRK, told TheLocal that the sketch was meant to ridicule the founding fathers who wrote the Jewish clause, not Jews.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30