Playwright Jon Robin Baitz Set Upon by ‘Sieg Heil’ Thug
Jon Robin Baitz Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — Jewish playwright Jon Robin Baitz said he was assaulted in Washington, D.C., by a man who went “Sieg Heil” and shouted anti-Semitic invective.
Baitz told Vanity Fair that he and his husband were attacked Friday night outside the Kimpton Carlyle Hotel.
He said they were approached by a group the playwright described as “exhilarated and pointedly celebratory, loud happy Trump people.”
“(There was) this 350-pound enormous red-headed linebacker guy, who clearly saw a group of East Coast Jewish liberal homosexual sodomite communists congregating in their black clothes,” Baitz said. “He went ‘Sieg Heil’ and saluted us.”
The man then shouted the anti-Semitic invective and threatened to kill Baitz before throwing him to the ground.
Baitz said he filed assault charges against the man. The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the incident as a “suspected hate crime,” according to Vanity Fair.
He is the author of the satirical play “Vicuña,” about a Trump-like real estate tycoon and reality TV star who becomes a Republican presidential candidate.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
