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.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Dive In
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Fast Forward Brooklyn event with Itamar Ben-Gvir cancelled days before Israeli far-right minister’s US trip
-
Fast Forward Marco Rubio sits down with Michael Benz, Jewish former Trump official with an antisemitic online persona
-
Fast Forward Eyeing a new opportunity, Jewish settlers are positioning themselves on the Gaza border
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Politics Meet America’s potential first Jewish second family: Josh Shapiro, Lori, and their 4 kids
- 4
Fast Forward Suspected arsonist intended to beat Gov. Josh Shapiro with a sledgehammer, investigators say
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Jewish students, alumni decry ‘weaponization of antisemitism’ across country
-
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history
-
Opinion Why can Harvard stand up to Trump? Because it didn’t give in to pro-Palestinian student protests
-
Culture How an Israeli dance company shaped a Catholic school boy’s life
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.