Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Spielberg Censored in Lebanon

It’s not quite worthy of a Sherlock Holmes story, but the mystery continues: Who censored Steven Spielberg’s name at a movie theater in Lebanon?

In a piece picked up by The Washington Post, the country’s Blog Baladi reported yesterday that the director’s name had been covered up on a poster for his next movie, the kid-friendly “Adventures of Tintin.”

“I guess that we shouldn’t mention or see his name since he’s Jewish,” Blog Baladi wrote, “but we can go ahead and watch a movie he produced. I wonder whose decision this was: Cinema City or the government?”

A day later, no one is claiming responsibility for the anti-Spielberg activism. The government’s General Security Directorate and the theater each blamed the other for covering up the director’s name. “Nevertheless,” Blog Baladi commented today, “what matters is that the name is no longer censored (even though I have to see it to believe it).”

The Washington Post notes that Spielberg was the subject of an Arab boycott after the Oscar winner donated $1 million to Israel during the country’s war with Hezbollah in 2006.

Interestingly, The Shmooze notes, Lebanese movie theaters plan to show the horrendous-looking “Jack and Jill,” in which a cross-dressing Adam Sandler plays twins with the presumably Jewish last name Sadelstein. If donations to Israel are a problem, Sandler should watch out: In one of the odder acts of philanthropy in recent memory, the comedian donated 400 Sony Playstations to Israeli victims of the 2006 war with Lebanon.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

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.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

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 credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link 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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.