Yes, Bruno Mars Is Jewish
Bruno Mars, center. Image by Getty Images
The mild-mannered, mega-talented purveyor of some of the toe tapping-est popular music out there, Bruno Mars, is Jewish. The artist, who swept the Grammys on Sunday night, winning in the three major categories Best Album of the Year, Best Record of the Year, and Best Song of the Year, as well as awards for Best R&B artist and Best R&B Performer. Throughout his accolade-stuffed career, Mars has also been on the endless receiving end of a question put succinctly in this Huffington Post headline: What Race Is Bruno Mars?
Though it’s natural to be curious, the intensity of the desire to categorize Mars is a pretty profound sign that we set too much store by race. To attempt to answer your burning question, Mars’ father was born in Brooklyn-via-Puerto Rico, with Ukrainian and Hungarian heritage. His mother was Filipina, with Spanish and Chinese ancestry. Mars was born in Hawaii.
We’ll leave it to Peter Gene Hernandez, who now goes by Bruno Mars, to tell us how he identifies racially, should he choose to. But we are pleased to report that Bruno Mars had an Ashkenazi Jewish parent who identified as such. He is apparently descended from a Hebrew school teacher, and his last album was called “Unorthodox Jukebox,” so you do the math. All of this is to say, we wish Bruno a major mazal tov. And now that we know he’s in the family, we feel comfortable sincerely telling him, “‘Despacito’ got robbed.”
Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
