The Schmooze lies at the intersection of high and low culture. Here, the latest developments and trends in Jewish art, books, dance, film, music, media, television and theater are all assimilated into one handy pop culture blog.
The Schmooze
-
James Franco Is Accused Of Sexual Assault. Why Did Colbert Let Him Off The Hook?
Nobody wants to live in a world where lives are made and ruined by the court of public opinion. Nobody wants rumors on Twitter to decide punishments for accused public figures. Everybody wants justice to reign and for the law to be decided by Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Ruth Bader Ginsberg alone (at least I…
-
Harvey Weinstein Got Slapped By A Random Man. Should America Cheer?
“Is It OK To Punch A Nazi?” America asked, with a seemingly endless appetite for debate, in 2017. Now the Forward must pose another question: Is It OK To Slap Harvey Weinstein? Weinstein, the disgraced former studio executive whose reputation has been ravaged by over 80 rape, sexual assault, and harassment accusations over the past…
-
‘Shape Of Water,’ ‘Three Billboards’ Lead BAFTA Nominations
The United Kingdom apparently has a soft spot for misunderstood monsters: Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” which won two Golden Globes Awards, has garnered 12 nominations for this year’s BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars. While “The Shape of Water” earned the most nominations of any film for this year’s awards,…
The Latest
-
4 Things Yair Netanyahu Could Have Spent $116 On That Aren’t A Sex Worker
Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s son Yair (can we call him Baby Bibi?) is embroiled in scandal yet again. A 2015 recording of him that surfaced today on Israeli news. He is recorded on tape outside a strip club telling a friend that his father’s help pushing a $20 billion oil deal that benefited the…
-
WATCH: Sarah Silverman’s Rabbi Sister Drops F-Bombs To Explain Judaism
“My third favorite sister, you guys!” Sarah Silverman exclaimed, welcoming one of her three sisters, the Jerusalem-based Reform rabbi Susan Silverman, to the talk show “I Love You, America.” In a brief, but stunningly specific, discussion on Sarah Silverman’s new Hulu show that aired around Thanksgiving, the sisters spent eight minutes lying on a bed,…
-
‘Time’s Up!’ This Jewish Actress’ Husband Carried Her Breast Pump At The Golden Globes
Almost exactly one year after the historic Women’s March on Washington, DC, the most powerful women in Hollywood gathered for a much more extravagant event that sent the same powerful message: Time’s Up. The slogan, which is also the name of a legal defense fund and initiative intent on applying the momentum for gender equality…
-
Pink Will Sing The National Anthem At Superbowl LII
Pink will be singing the National Anthem at this year’s Superbowl on February 4 in Minneapolis, Variety reports. Pink is having some year. If things followed their normal pattern the singer, (given name Alecia Beth Moore) would be approaching irrelevance. The star, who identifies as an “Irish-German-Lithuanian-Jew” put out a remarkable stream of number one…
-
Here Are The Best Jewish Moments From The 2018 Golden Globes
The 2018 Golden Globe Awards were a tremendous show of force (by Hollywood standards, at least) in support of women and sexually disenfranchised people. Tinseltown’s luminaries wore all black to protest sexual harassment in the industry, and some nominees brought feminist organizers as their plus-ones. The movies that took home the awards for best drama…
-
Natalie Portman Just Did Right By All Women At The Golden Globes
Natalie Portman, resplendent in a decadent velvet gown and her signature face-that-looks-like-it-was-personally-architected-by-God, almost made a huge mistake at the 2018 Golden Globe Awards. She followed Oprah. After Oprah Winfrey’s exceptionally barn-burning acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Award, a speech that brought the entirety of the Hollywood glitterati to its feet with an evangelical…
-
This Jewish Olympian Ice Skating To ‘Hamilton’ Will Make Your Day
Jason Brown is one of the most formidable names in men’s figure skating, known for his flawless spins and extension and astonishing flexibility. And it’s not just that Brown is a graduate of the Union of Reform Judaism camp systems whose tight knit Jewish family celebrates holidays together and spent Brown’s bar mitzvah party volunteering…
-
‘All About That Bass’ Singer Meghan Trainor Is Marrying Into The Tribe
Meghan Trainor has the outsized confidence, the straightened hair and the love-hate relationship with her butt of a Jewish girl (and I can say that because I’m so Jewish I’ve witnessed dozens of live circumcisions.) But Trainor, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter of bubblegum hits like “All About The Bass” and “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” is…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Film & TV The new ‘Superman’ is being called anti-Israel, but does that make it pro-Palestine?
- 2
Fast Forward Tucker Carlson calls for stripping citizenship from Americans who served in the Israeli army
- 3
Opinion This German word explains Trump’s authoritarian impulses — and Hitler’s rise to power
- 4
Music ‘No matter what, I will always be a Jew.’ Billy Joel opens up about his family’s Holocaust history
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Students at Netanyahu’s Pennsylvania high school want him ejected from the alumni hall of fame
-
Culture On the border between hipster and Hasidic, a Brooklyn barbershop specializes in Orthodox haircuts
-
Opinion American Jews were played — now what?
-
Fast Forward Its protests yielding limited results, Jewish Voice for Peace retools to focus on swaying elections
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
