PJ Grisar is a Forward culture reporter. He can be reached at grisar@forward.com and @pjgrisar on Twitter.
PJ Grisar
By PJ Grisar
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Culture Will Spike Lee’s 9/11 series feature a conspiracy theorist who welcomes antisemitic canards?
Spike Lee’s searching curiosity makes him one of our best and most eclectic filmmakers. But sometimes he may be asking the wrong questions of the wrong people. As Jeremy Stahl reported Tuesday in Slate, in an advanced cut of the final episode of Lee’s new documentary miniseries on HBO, “NYC Epicenters 9/11–2021½,” the director devoted…
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Culture Haddish. Chomsky. Dershowitz. Who should be the next host of ‘Jeopardy?’
The nation’s favorite quiz show continues to have a host-shaped hole at its center with the sudden exit of Mike Richards. But who should fill it? For years, Ken Jennings seemed the heir apparent. But if we want to talk sordid remarks on podcasts (and Twitter), he’s not much better than Richards. The people want…
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Fast Forward Mike Richards steps down from ‘Jeopardy!’ gig after antisemitic comments unearthed
That was quick. Two days after The Ringer reported on Mike Richards’ past podcast remarks, in which the newly appointed “Jeopardy!” host made offensive remarks about poor people, Haitians and Jews, Richards announced he was stepping down. “It pains me that these past incidents and comments have cast such a shadow on ‘Jeopardy!’ as we…
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Culture In Netflix’s latest, a Nazi salute sets off the season’s best comedy
Netflix’s best new comedy ends its first episode with a Nazi salute. In the fictional lower-tier Ivy, Pembroke University, a popular professor, Bill Dobson, strides into his packed classroom. He writes “Absurdism” on the board and, right above it, that artistic movement’s partial impetus, “Fascism.” His students seem engaged and he continues with the lecture….
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Culture What Kushner pal Ken Kurson’s songwriting suggests about his latest charges
Author’s Note: After being pardoned by Trump for alleged cyberstalking, Jared Kushner’s longtime chum Ken Kurson is now facing similar charges. In light of this news, we are revisiting this article from October of last year, which plumbs Kurson’s musical oeuvre, a canon of paranoia and jealousy that gels quite well with the allegations. Ken…
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Film & TV Scarlett Johansson’s new baby is named Cosmo… like Kramer
Some people enter the world with a spasm of life, commanding attention as they jerk their way into existence. Kinda like how Kramer bursts into a room, only probably with more medical equipment and less studio audience applause. On Wednesday, a baby boy made one such entrance — at least if his name, like Moses…
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Culture Former Folksbiene CEO quits 6-figure job after résumé-padding investigation
The former CEO of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, who was recently found to have padded his résumé with fake jobs and professional honors, is resigning from his post at the University of Utah’s Pioneer Theatre Company, citing mental illness. “Despite many good things that have happened over the last two years under my direction,…
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Culture A museum devoted to the Jewish Catskills? In Ulster County, one man’s ready to break ground
Half a century after their heyday, the Catskills are having a moment. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” recently devoted the bulk of a season to the Jewish Alps’ tummling past. The passing of comedian Jackie Mason recalled a bygone era, when families fled urban sprawls to get some mountain air and kibbitz with their coreligionists in…
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Film & TV Bonhoeffer biopic tells of a pastor turned would-be Hitler assassin — but is the story true?
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News Texas schools want to add Queen Esther to the curriculum. Here’s why Jews (and many Christians) are opposed.
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News What Mike Huckabee’s ‘Kids Guide to Israel’ says about his views
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Culture At 95, Shaindel Schreiber is still dispensing babka and advice on the Lower East Side
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Fast Forward Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to helm EPA, says he received bomb threat with ‘pro-Palestinian themed message’
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Opinion We can be thankful this year — and Jewish wisdom can help
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Fast Forward France says it won’t arrest Netanyahu, despite ICC warrant against him
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Opinion What Trump’s appointment of a Soros protege tells us about the right’s real priorities
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