It's Just Not Quidditch!
Just days before the latest Harry Potter movie hits the big screen, the movie¹s star Daniel Radcliffe conjured up controversy by telling a joke that portrayed Jews as money-grabbing and avaricious.
In an interview in The Guardian published on Saturday that may find the 20-year-old wishing he had a spell that could turn back time, the actor
quipped: ³Did you hear how copper wire was invented? Two Jews fighting over a penny.²
Top stories
- Eichmann was just 'hours from capture' in 1949
- Clinton: 'Direct peace talks can end conflict in one year'
- Top marks for Jewish schools
However, it was no laughing matter as far as the Board of Deputies was concerned. Chief Executive Jon Benjamin criticised the comments, telling the Jewish News: ³Daniel Radcliffe clearly needs some better material because, Jewish or not, comments that stigmatise and stereotype any group are not terribly amusing.²
The Community Security Trust also failed to see the funny side. Voicing his concerns over the level of sensitivity involved in making such a historically slanderous generalisation, the CSTıs Mark Gardner said: ³We have seen many times how jokes can upset some people, and it may prove to be the case once more.² Claiming he was ³upset and disturbed² by the joke, one Jewish News reader who called us said: ³Itıs bad enough when anti-Semites make comments like this, but someone who says theyıre proud to be Jewish should be ashamed of themselves for peddling this filth.²
The sentiment was echoed by Zionist Federation President Eric Moonman who
said: ³What a pity that Radcliffe couldnıt think of a better joke to tell.
Itıs a shame that heıs not prepared to recognise that as a personality, the things he says will be heard and reviewed.
³The fact that one is of a certain group or ethnicity usually makes one more sensitive or cautious about telling these kinds of jokes. I myself would never tell a Jewish joke, or if I did, I would be very cautious about the context of that joke. And I would make sure it was much, much funnier than this one.²
Despite repeated requests, neither Radcliffe nor his publicist were available for comment.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had its world premiere in Leicester Square on Tuesday evening, with the world release set for next Wednesday.
The last Potter film, The Order of the Phoenix, earned £50 million in ticket sales.
Read the latest copy of The Jewish News Online by clicking here.
Other headlines
- Simcha turns into tragedy - 02/09/10
- Seeking peace: Bibi and Abbas begin historic talks - 02/09/10
- 'Peace in a year if the Palestinians give up violence' - 02/09/10
- Top London university to host pro-Hamas speakers - 26/08/10
- Jewish family in Nazi house - 26/08/10
- 'Save our cemetery' - 26/08/10
- Flotilla activist: 'Go back to Auschwitz' - 19/08/10
- Cemetery is granted major 1.5 million pound extension - 19/08/10
- Together at last! - 19/08/10
- Israel army chief says flotilla troops acted 'proportionately' - 12/08/10
- 'I feel closer to Yoni now' - 12/08/10
- Man who made the Sixties swing - 12/08/10
- Ashkenazi cancer risk - 05/08/10
- Israel backs probe into Gaza flotilla raid - 05/08/10









