Self-Tokenization at The Emmys

This past Sunday, one of the biggest and arguably best award shows was held to give out the annual Emmy awards for television. Not only were the attendees dressed to the nines, but an approximate 7.4 million tuned in to see who would cinch the win for each specific category.

Given the complex and nuanced origin of the Jewish influence in Hollywood, historically, what came next was particularly troubling. What is often twisted into the antisemitic trope we see again and again – that Jews are nothing more than Hollywood-running, money-hungry goblins–masks the truth that Jews were so integral in the establishment of Hollywood because of discrimination in fields like law and medicine, which had forced us into what initially was seen as a less prestigious industry. And because of this, Jews did what we do so well: make the best of a bad situation.

When the nominations for Best Supporting Actress in A Comedy Series were read out, it was no surprise that Hannah Einbinder’s witty performance as Ava in the hit HBO series ‘Hacks’ was the one to take it home. The speech she gave, however, sank the hearts of thousands of Jews at home, when it ended with “Free Palestine.”

There is nothing wrong with that phrase without context, or with an added “from Hamas,” but the reality is that those two words have been weaponized and often are contextually synonymous with the desire to completely wipe Israel off the map. When Jews hear that phrase, it is often accompanied by verbal or physical intimidation, delegitimization or otherwise harmful rhetoric, so it is entirely natural to feel some sort of emotional recoil when broadcasting something so publicly and without pause for the nuance of the circumstances.

Hannah Einbinder has been very loudly Jewish, too. The daughter of an actor and an original SNL cast member, Einbinder’s personal connection to the industry is clear, and with a name like hers, there is no hiding her background. She posts proudly about Jewish-American culture on her social media, the pastrami-on-rye flavor of Judaism that is entirely palatable to people from all walks of life. When asked about her speech, Einbinder told The Wrap:

 “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state.”

This is something we are unfortunately seeing in rising numbers, especially by Jews in the public eye. The undeniable cultural pressure around the Israel-Hamas war has led to a paradoxical and forced social separation of a Jewish and Zionist identity. The almost magnificent effort by the opposition to spread disinformation has elected Zionism as a cruelty, rather than the true definition of a social justice movement, which simply is the right for Jews to self-govern in their ancestral and indigenous homeland. When we have Jews spreading this misinformation on such magnified platforms, it is only expected that these ideas are becoming more and more mainstream.

The thought of a ‘Good Jew’ and a ‘Bad Jew’ are thrown into the minds of viewers, albeit subconsciously, who may begin to believe that a ‘Good Jew’ is one who is willing to downplay their history to appeal to a mass audience, and a ‘Bad Jew’ is everyone else. As people of a religion older than many of these modern concepts into which we have been compared and categorized, it is hard to watch our public figures bend over backwards for validation, without understanding the history behind their words. 

Even the Emmys’ red carpet saw names such as Javier Bardem, Meg Stalter (notably who starred as a very Jewish character in the Lena Dunham special ‘Too Much’), Aimee Lou Wood and Chris Perfetti wearing the popular ‘ceasefire now’ pin. The design of the pin (a red hand on a red circle) was modeled after an infamous picture taken in October 2000 in Ramallah, where a young man is holding his two blood-covered hands out of a window, after the lynching of two Israelis, much to the delight of a cheering crowd below. However, many red carpets have asked stars to remove their yellow hostage pins, citing that they were ‘too political’. 

Einbinder’s speech was not groundbreaking. It was a symptom of a much larger issue. The willingness of so many Jews to self-tokenize, in order to be thought of in a more ‘socially acceptable’ way. It is in times such as these, that we should dig our heels into our identity, not just when it brings us bagels and Adam Sandler movies.  The Jew who is quiet, the Jew who is obedient is not the Jew who has gotten us through thousands of years. Be the Jew who will get us through thousands more.