14 DAY TRIAL // The Anti-Defamation League is fuming at a joke that Seth MacFarlane, the host of the Oscars 2013, wrote for his character Ted, the shameless teddy bear, who took to the stage with Mark Wahlberg to present an award in one of the technical categories.
“I was born Theodore Shapiro, and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever,” Ted said, as cited by The Hollywood Reporter.
The League doesn’t appreciate this kind of jokes and thinks that MacFarlane, who created Ted for the comedy of the same name released last year, crossed the line in including this one in the Oscarcast.
“While we have come to expect inappropriate ‘Jews control Hollywood’ jokes from Seth MacFarlane, what he did at the Oscars was offensive and not remotely funny. It only reinforces stereotypes which legitimize anti-Semitism. It is sad and disheartening that the Oscars awards show sought to use anti-Jewish stereotypes for laughs,” the League says in the statement.
By including this joke when he knew over 2 billion people from all over the world would be tuning in for the Oscars, MacFarlane is only helping perpetuate the myth that Jews are in charge of Hollywood, which is not true, says the same statement.