PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at [email protected] and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Why are celebrities sharing a 30-year-old clip of Louis Farrakhan?
Update, June 17, 11:58 a.m.: Chelsea Handler has removed the clip of Louis Farrakhan from her Instagram profile. Jameela Jamil called him an “extraordinary man.” Jessica Chastain and Chelsea Handler said his words were “powerful.” Minister Louis Farrakhan must be pretty pleased with his reception. In a landscape where influencers and celebrities are scrambling to…
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Culture Why this Bloomsday is different from the rest
Now more than ever Leopold Bloom’s mundane day thrills with danger. While the protagonist of James Joyce’s “Ulysses” notoriously did very little, his every action — drinking at a pub; traipsing through Dublin; dining with his uncle at a hotel — now presents us with certain pandemic-related risks. Should we emulate Bloom as many bibliophiles…
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Culture Who would win in a Ted Cruz-Ron Perlman showdown?
Somehow it’s come to this. There’s a global pandemic, nationwide demonstrations against racism, and in the middle of it all, a sitting U.S. senator has challenged “Hellboy” actor Ron Perlman to a wrestling match. Monday morning, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), mad over an earlier spat between Perlman and Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), let loose on…
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Culture The ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode skewering Nazis deserves to be preserved
John Cleese can now boast that his little sitcom about a seaside hotel is a cultural lightning rod on the level of “Gone with the Wind.” Late last week, the BBC-owned streaming service UKTV removed a 1975 episode of “Fawlty Towers” for racial slurs, including the N-word and the British epithet “wog.” Cleese, the show’s…
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Culture She channels the spirits of Elie Wiesel and Albert Einstein. She says ‘It’s time to look up.’
One Yom Kippur a few years ago, Marilyn Kapp sensed that a group of children was sitting with her in shul. They had all passed on, but Kapp was unfazed. She spoke to these out-of-body children, as she always does. “I said ‘Oh, are you from the Holocaust and would you like me to tell…
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Culture Bob Dylan calls George Floyd’s killing ‘beyond ugly’
Bob Dylan’s reputation as a cipher has its occasional cracks. While he’s tight-lipped as ever about his recent politics, he did make his name in protest songs. When he sees injustice, he’s not shy about calling it out — particularly when it comes to race in America. In a rare interviewwith The New York Times,…
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Culture We need to talk about Ice Cube’s anti-Semitism allegations
Rapper, filmmaker, Eames chair enthusiast — anti-Semite? The internet is abuzz with allegations that Ice Cube was blowing the Jew-hate dog whistle. It started with a series of tweets. Last week, Cube tweeted an image of a London mural, “Freedom for Humanity,” in which a number of people who’ve been identified as Jews are seen…
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Culture Is it really time to cancel ‘Blazing Saddles?’
It’s morning in America, and protestors have toppled yet another Confederate monument. But as that trend gains traction both on the streets and in the halls of Congress, a different sort of tribute to Old Dixie was placed on the chopping block. The new streaming service HBO Max announced it was removing “Gone with the…
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