Lainie Kazan’s ‘Oy Vey’ Moment
Filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Oy Vey, My Son Is Gay,” slated to be released this fall, offers the exact story line that the title suggests: overbearing Jewish mother from Long Island (Lainie Kazan) hurls eligible Jewish bachelorettes at her nice, but (no-so-secretly) gay son, Nelson (John Lloyd Young). But Nelson is already in a relationship — with his live-in boyfriend, Angelo (Jai Rodriguez of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”).
The movie features a slew of other notable names, like Carmen Electra, who takes on the role of playmate neighbor and Nelson’s would-be girlfriend, and “The Sopranos” Vincent Pastore, who gives us what he does best — the Italian dad; in this film, he plays the macho father of Nelson’s boyfriend.
The film explores how both sets of parents’ grapple with their sons’ sexuality, and the sometimes-uncomfortable communal responses that it invokes. The trailer is below:
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
