Steve Bannon’s Jewish Hollywood Partner Insists ‘He’s No Anti-Semite’

Steve Bannon Image by YouTube Screenshot

By Nathan Guttman May 9, 2017

Jeff Kwatinetz was Steve Bannon’s partner during the White Houses adviser’s stint as a Hollywood financier. Now, the Jewish producer and talent manager is speaking out in defense of his ex-pal.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Kwatinetz, who identifies as liberal and a Bernie Sanders supporter, said that he had never heard a racist word come out of Bannon’s mouth.

“I know that he’s not anti-Semitic. I am absolutely positive that he’s not anti-Semitic or racist. It is absurd. I am Jewish, Roy Furman was Jewish, Andrew Breitbart was Jewish,” Kwatinetz said. “He is not anti-Semitic. Period.”

Kwatinetz, who accused the media of being biased against his former partner, was not asked about Bannon priding himself for opening the door to alt-right writers and white nationalists while running Breitbart.

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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