Rapper LL Cool J Has Tons of Jewish Friends — but Can’t Stand Gefilte Fish

Actor and rapper LL Cool J on April 15, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. Image by Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten May 23, 2016

Rapper LL Cool J has too many Jewish friends to count, but there’s one Jewish custom he won’t get on board with: gefilte fish.

“My grandfather was from the Bronx, he came home with gefilte fish every week. I mean, I didn’t like it, no disrespect, but I loved him, it wasn’t my thing, but I always had great Jewish friends, always, they’ve been good to me,” the rapper, whose stage name is an acronym for Ladies Love Cool James, told the Jewish Journal.

“I can go on and on and on and on and on, about the different Jewish friends I’ve had and it’s always been natural for me,” he said.

LL Cool J also said that he wants to visit Israel. “I would love to go. I really would. I’ve never been but first time for everything, right?”

The rapper was attending a launch event in Beverly Hills for the Ulmer Institute, a trauma center that will use Israeli trauma treatment methods. At the event the center’s founder, Bishop Kenneth Ulmer, who is black, spoke of the importance of unity between African-Americans and Jews, according to the Jewish Journal.

Contact Josefin Dolsten at dolsten@forward.com or on Twitter, @JosefinDolsten

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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