Jewish groups are cheering a report that NBC is pulling an episode of the TV show “Nurses” from its digital platforms after it depicted a highly inflammatory scene featuring Chassidic Jewish characters.
The fictional show set in a Toronto hospital came under criticism after it aired on Tuesday night with a storyline that included a severely injured Chassidic man refusing a bone graft because, as another Chassidic man tells him, it could be a “goyim leg, from anyone—an Arab, a woman.”
“The portrayal of a Chassidic Jew making hateful remarks about an Arab woman is gratuitous and inflammatory, and only validates longstanding anti-Semitic stereotypes,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League in a statement on Wednesday condemning the show’s rhetoric.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted on Wednesday: “Insulting, demonizing religious Jews & Judaism. Overreaction? Orthodox Jews are targeted for violent hate crimes in New York, Jews #1 target of hate crimes in the US. What’s NBC going to do about it?”
This is the second time this week that NBC has come under fire for anti-Jewish, anti-Israel sentiment.
Jewish groups and Israeli officials accused NBC’s iconic American late-night variety show “Saturday Night Live” (“SNL”) of spreading anti-Semitism after one of its skits on Feb. 20 joked that Israel had given COVID-19 vaccinations only to its Jewish citizens.
“Israel is reporting that they’ve vaccinated half of their population, and I’m going to guess it’s the Jewish half,” quipped Michael Che, co-host with Colin Jost of the news parody “Weekend Update.”
Needless to say, it did not go over well.