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
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Did Kelsea Ballerini Plagiarize An Israeli Artist For Country Music Awards Performance?
Contemporary Israeli dance and country music. It could be a match made in heaven. If it’s done honestly. When 25-year-old country music sensation Kelsea Ballerini performed her hit “Miss Me More” at the Country Music Awards on Wednesday, responses were mixed. Reese Witherspoon called it fire emoji. Many fans complained that the electric performance was…
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The Forward’s 2018 Sexiest Jewish Intellectual Alive (And One Dead) Awards
Welcome back to the second year of the Forward’s annual Sexiest Jewish Intellectual Alive. It all began last year. Sensing a gap in a marketplace — the dominant Sexiest Man Alive competition was created to showcase the beauty of Mel Gibson — we decided it was time to rank Jews by intellectual hotness. A few…
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Sarah Silverman Preparing Her Aging Dad For Death Is The Most Jewish Thing Ever
Sarah Silverman’s dad Donald is in perfectly good health for an 81-year-old. So Silverman decided “to show you just how important it is to take your elderly parents, bring them on your television show, and make a plan for their death.” As Donald said, popping up next to his daughter during the season finale of…
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SNL’s RBG ‘Get Well’ Rap Is Weaker Than Ginsburg’s Fractured Ribs
It’s fair to say that “Saturday Night Live” has had its ups and downs. Sometimes, the show is Kate McKinnon singing “Hallelujah” and Kenan Thompson as the tragic hero of a lobster opera. And sometimes, it’s just men embarrassing themselves. Forget the truly misguided bit this week when the absurdly wealthy co-head writer and “Weekend…
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The Bernie Sanders-Azealia Banks Feud You’ve Been Waiting For Has Arrived
It was bound to happen. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is a snowy-haired, firebrand grandpa grumpily taking on America’s banks, taxes, and social systems. Azealia Banks is a quicksilver, hyper-sexual, socially radical rapper known for erratic behavior, hot-headed internet fighting, and, once, claiming to have lurked inside of Elon Musk’s house for days. It was inevitable…
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‘Princess Bride’ Writer William Goldman Dead, But Immortal Forever
“True love is the best thing in the world,” William Goldman wrote. “Except for cough drops.” The 87-year-old screenwriter and novelist died on Friday morning after a brilliant career and beautiful life. His genius was as suited to love scenes as knife fights, as compelling recounting history as it was inventing myth, as warm on…
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Sarah Silverman Schools Nazi Prom Boys On How To Make A Good Holocaust Joke
In the darkest moments, in the valley of the shadow of anti-Semitism, in days torn by violence and pain, there is a light, and her name is Sarah Silverman. And she is committed to teaching the world that there is a better way to make jokes about the Holocaust. Reflecting on the surfacing of a…
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Mark Zuckerberg And Sheryl Sandberg, We’re Revoking Your Mensch Cards
Well, well, well, well, well, well, well. Here at the Schmooze, the Forward’s pop culture desk, we’ve been pretty relentless in our criticism of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. But damn! Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, whose clean-cut looks and professed Jewish and American values have always endeared them to us just as Javanka’s have…
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Pregnant Amy Schumer Has Been Hospitalized But On The Mend
Amy Schumer has been hospitalized for hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness. The pregnant actress shared on social media that she was forced to raincheck standup shows in Texas after being admitted to the hospital during the second trimester of her pregnancy. “It blows,” the 37-year-old comedian commented. “Very lucky to be pregnant…
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When Instagram Took Down Orthodox Fashion Brand’s Pro-Israel Post
When Brooklyn-based Orthodox Jewish sisters Mushky Notik and Mimi Hecht started their brand ‘Mimu Maxi’ in 2014, they couldn’t have imagined their Instagram platform would grow into the success it is today, with over 45K followers. As such, the ‘proud Jewish sisters from Brooklyn’ take to the platform, from time to time, to comment on…
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David Schwimmer Thanked By UK Police After Capture Of Beer Thief
“Friends” actor David Schwimmer will be there for you when the rain starts to pour, even if you are a foreign police department looking for a beer bandit. Yes, in a brief departure from the ‘round the clock horror show that is the news cycle, we bring you a friendly collaboration between a beloved Jewish…
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Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
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Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
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Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
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Fast Forward Columbia staff receive texts asking if they’re Jewish, as government hunts antisemitic harassment on campus
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward Trump nominee Ed Martin, who praised a Nazi sympathizer, also compared Biden to Hitler
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Opinion RFK Jr. and Trump are talking about an ‘autism registry’ — this sounds disturbingly familiar
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Fast Forward Heavy police presence blocks anti-Israel protest in Brooklyn from reaching Jewish neighborhood
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Yiddish קאָקני־ייִדיש“: אַ פּאָדקאַסט, אַ לשון און אַ שטײגער לעבן‘Cockney Yiddish’: A podcast, a language and a way of life
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