Sisters Fired Over ‘Happy Hanukkah’ Oven Jibe
Image by thinkstock
Two Iowa sisters were fired from their jobs after joking about “burning the Jews” inside a toy oven.
Image by thinkstock
Christina and Susan Ott were dismissed from an assembly plant in New Hampton, Iowa, in January, the Des Moines Register reported , after walking around work on Dec. 19 with a toy oven in which they placed gingerbread men.
“Happy Hanukkah. We’re burning the Jews,” the women said, according to five plant employees.
The Otts were rejected for unemployment benefits in separate hearings.
Both women claimed that they didn’t make the comment, the paper reported. They asserted and that they were carrying the toy oven around to make up for missing a Christmas sweater contest at the plant.
“We did not have a Christmas sweater, so we decided to give out gingerbread men instead,” Susan Ott testified, the Register reported.
A judge was not impressed with their claim.
“Simply the act of carrying an oven around with little people in it while saying ‘Happy Hanukkah’ is offensive, let alone if she said the hate speech along with it,” administrative law judge Susan Ackerman said during a hearing for Christina Ott, according to the newspaper.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
