The ADL Goes To Bat For John Galliano, Sets Its Sights On SNL

Here’s the long and the short of it: The Anti-Defamation League, in response to disgraced fashion designer John Galliano’s latest headline grabbing brush with Judaism, has put out the following statement, which reads, in part:

…There is no truth to their accusation that John Galliano was dressed in Hasidic garb, and anyone familiar with the dress of traditional Orthodox Jews should not mistake what Galliano is wearing in the photograph as “Hasidic garb.”  Hasidim do not wear fedora hats, pinstripe pants, blue jackets or an ascot tie.

This is John Galliano being John Galliano.  His dress is always eccentric and his hair is always worn long.  This is, at the very least, ignorance on the part of the reporters and editors at the Post, or, at worst, a deliberate, malicious distortion in an effort to sell newspapers…

It’s good to see the ADL, fashion experts that they are, coming to the defense of a man who famously slurred: “I love Hitler… People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers would all be fucking gassed.”

Now, I’m all for forgiveness when forgiveness is due, but it’s hard to take the ADL’s opinion on what’s worth their attention seriously when this comes days after they wrote Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels. See, they weren’t thrilled about SNL’s “Chuck Hagel nomination” sketch – a sketch with never even aired .Their letter explains:

…On the one hand, in taking this public controversy and skewering it to a degree that is absurd, this is a form of legitimate satire that serves to erode the hard edge of those who falsely claim that America is a tool of the Israelis.  On the other hand, there inevitably will be those who say, “Yeah, it’s funny, but there is some truth to all of this.”  And for a smaller minority among those individuals, elements of the skit could play into the worst kind of ideas, even reinforcing pernicious notions of Jewish control of government in the vein of those routinely espoused by anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists and anti-Semites by suggesting that U.S. officials would even engage in public sex acts if asked to do so by Israel.

Everyone following so far?

• Documented anti-Semite who steps out in (what could be charitably called “questionably”) Jewish clothes? A-Okay.
• Satirical comedy sketch on a satirical comedy show regarding an actual “controversy” at the highest levels of government? Over the line.

With friends like these…