Yes, Zuck Is Jewish And He’s At Sun Valley. No, He Didn’t Pack A Yarmulke.
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Morning Brew, a chatty business newsletter, tried to use a Jewish joke to get in on the buzz about the annual Sun Valley conference for media, tech and entrepreneurship, writing Wednesday morning that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “excitedly packed his sunscreen, sleeping bag, and yarmulke” for the networking conference, which kicked off earlier in the week.
In fact, Morning Brew doesn’t know if Zuckerberg packed a kippah, or if he might need one, a member of the staff confirmed in an email to the Forward. It was an attempt at a joke, spurred by the Jewish staff’s nostalgia of packing for summer camp.
“Every day we attempt to strike a balance between presenting important news while offering readers entertainment (through jokes, etc.),” a staff member named Michael wrote. “We clearly missed the mark here. FWIW, we are also all Jewish, and were reminiscing about packing up our things for summer camp (that’s where the line originated from, and why we didn’t view it as offensive). Obviously, this sentiment did not get across and it was a serious miscalculation. We’ll definitely be thinking about how we can improve/learn from this.”
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
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