Sarah Silverman revealed in a recent appearance on W. Kamau Bell’s show, “Totally Biased,” that she was hurt by the jokes made about her age at James Franco’s Comedy Central roast. This was somewhat surprising — not because the jokes weren’t offensive, but because it isn’t like Silverman hasn’t dished it out herself once or twice over the course of her career.
It turns out there was something far more shocking than her thin skin, though, and that was the thing viewers noticed on her skin during the interview: The cross pendant she was wearing on her necklace!
Silverman fans everywhere (or at least those who read Heeb) where thrown off by the Christian paraphernalia, questioning whether one of the Jewiest female comedians around had jumped ship.
Thanks to the magic of the Internet, answers came quickly, with Sarah’s Dad and sister posting clarifying comments to the Heeb piece.
From her dad Donald: “I told Sarah that her nana (long passed) wanted to know about the cross. Sarah told me to tell Nana she’s still a Jew. It came from something she wore on a movie set.”
And next, her sister, Rabbi Susan Silverman: “I’m her rabbi sister and called her and asked WTF? She got it, lik our dad said on a recent movie set and she just liked that it pointed to her boobs. Oy. :-)”
Phew! Now we can go back to being scandalized by more benign Silverman antics, like songs about doing it with Matt Damon, ads for The Black NRA and indecently solicited donations for President Obama.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
