A radio commercial for Ballantine beer was withdrawn from the air today following a protest by the American Jewish Congress objecting to its tone and content as offensive to Jews. The commercial which was described by the AJ Congress as “objectionable” was broadcast during late evening hours over WLIB-FM here.
The American Jewish Congress protest noted that in the advertisement “a comedian named George Kirby told a ‘funny’ story about Jewish players on a football team who schemed to call signals in Yiddish so that the opponent, Notre Dame, wouldn’t understand — only to receive the rejoinder from a Notre Dame player that he, too, was Jewish and understood Yiddish.” The AJ Congress protest said listeners were “deeply offended by the mocking tone of the strong Yiddish accent employed by the ‘comedian.'”
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