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(Credit: Tablet)
Tablet Magazine, a news site covering “Jewish life,” published an article headlined, “The Specifically Jewy Perviness of Harvey Weinstein.” The article received much criticism online.
The Oct. 9 article, by editor-at-large, Mark Oppenheimer, now has an editor’s note apologizing for it. “Harvey, sadly, is a deeply Jewish kind of pervert,” the article claims, further stating that most of Weinstein’s alleged victims were not Jewish. The article stated:
“It goes without saying that nearly every one of these women—Rose McGowan, Ambra Batillana, Laura Madden, Ashley Judd, etc.—was a Gentile, all the better to feed Weinstein’s revenge-tinged fantasy of having risen above his outer-borough, bridge-and-tunnel Semitic origins. But it turns out there was a Jew(ess) in the bunch, none other than Lauren Sivan, of the potted-plant episode. In that small way, he inadvertently broke out of the Portnoy mold, performing his inadequacies not for the great all-American odeon but for a woman who could be his cousin. Harvey can run from who he is, but he can’t hide.”
By Oct. 10, Tablet‘s Oppenheimer was apologizing, acknowledging readers thought his article was “offensive.” The apology reads:
“Yesterday I published a piece on Harvey Weinstein that many found offensive. The analysis I offered was hasty and ill-considered, especially in light of the even graver accusations that were published by the New Yorker this morning. I take this as a lesson in the importance of knowing as much as one can about a given story, and in taking the time to think and feel things completely through before opining. I apologize for not doing so in this case.”
iMediaEthics wrote to Oppenheimer to ask what he would have done differently. Oppenheimer said he was traveling and pointed to the Yale Daily News’ report on the controversy, in which Oppenheimer said his article was a “mistake.” iMediaEthics has written to Tablet’s editor to ask how many complaints Tablet received.
When Oppenheimer originally tweeted a link to his article, readers responded critically, with some suggesting the piece could have been published in Nazi propaganda. @Lisang wrote, “Oh my god, Mark…! What are you doing? Please retract, rewrite, something. This is straight out of Der Sturmer (if Roth had been alive then).”
@zandywithaz responded, “Do you know that you are playing right into Nazi hands with this take: Jewish men trying to corrupt gentile women?” @TzviZucker wrote, “It read like an article on Stormfront. If the same article was written there word for word, people would be up in arms about antisemitism.”
The Specifically Jewy Perviness of Harvey Weinstein (you were waiting for this, ya?) https://t.co/RYBL77f7vg via @tabletmag
— Mark Oppenheimer (@markopp1) October 9, 2017