Norway TV Jokes About ‘No Jews’ Clause
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
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.
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