"Curb Your Enthusiasm" creator and star Larry David hosted "Saturday Night Live" this week and concluded his opening monologue with a crack about trying to pick up women in a Nazi concentration camp, a joke that didn't go over all that well with many members of the audience, both in the room in New York and viewers at home.
Larry David under fire for Holocaust joke during 'Saturday Night Live' monologue
His joke about trying to pick up women in a Nazi concentration camp didn't go over all that well with the audience in New York and at home.
By The Wrap
November 5, 2017 at 4:44PM
David made the joke just after bemoaning the fact that so many of the men in Hollywood being accused of sexual harassment and assault, like Harvey Weinstein, are Jewish.
"I have always, always been obsessed with women. And I have often wondered, if I had grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp in my 20s, would I still be checking out the women in the camp?" David said, with this opening part of the bit being greeted by laughter that was of a decidedly different tenor than usual.
"I think I would. 'Hey, Shlomo, hey, look at that one over by Barracks 8. Oh, my God, what a knockout. Is she gorgeous or what. I've been eyeing her for weeks. I would love to go up and say something to her.' Of course, the problem is, there are no good opening lines in a concentration camp. 'How's it going? They treating you OK? You know, if we ever get out of here, I'd love to take you out for some latkes. Do you like latkes? What? What did I say? Is it me or the whole thing? It's because I'm bald, isn't it?' "
The response on Twitter was chronicled in a Twitter Moment, which you can view here.
It wasn't uniformly negative, of course. The "both sides" of the response can basically be summed up with these two tweets:
Not feeling Larry David's concentration camp jokes @nbcSNL. Nothing about the holocaust will ever be funny. #majorfail #notfunny
— Cindi Avila (@ChefCindi) November 5, 2017
For the record, I'm Jewish and I thought Larry David's monologue was funny. Uncomfortable? Sure, but perhaps comedy isn't always supposed to make us comfortable. I hope the PC police can sleep tonight. #SNL #LarryDavid
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) November 5, 2017
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