Jewish Entertainment Figures Criticize Film Academy's Diversity Efforts

Over 260 signatories argue the academy's exclusion of Jews from its diversity initiative perpetuates antisemitism and erases Jewish identity.

Over 260 Jewish entertainment figures, including actors David Schwimmer, Julianna Margulies, and Josh Gad, and producers Greg Berlanti and Marta Kauffman, signed an open letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences criticizing the organization for excluding Jews as an underrepresented group in its diversity efforts.
The academy's diversity initiative, issued in 2020, recognizes a number of identities as 'underrepresented,' including women, L.G.B.T.Q. people, an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, or those with cognitive or physical disabilities, but does not include religion as a category.
The letter argues that the academy's exclusion of Jews from its diversity efforts is steeped in and misunderstands antisemitism, erases Jewish peoplehood, and perpetuates myths of Jewish whiteness and power.
The academy has faced previous criticism from the Jewish community, including for its lack of acknowledgment of the contributions of Jewish immigrants to the founding of the Hollywood studio system in its museum, which opened in 2021.
The letter was organized by the Hollywood Bureau of the group Jew in the City, which was founded in 2021 to advocate for 'whole and human Jewish depictions.'