The Anti-Defamation League has condemned Larry David’s concentration camp joke on “Saturday Night Live” through a tweet posted Sunday by the group’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt.
“He managed to be offensive, insensitive & unfunny all at the same time. Quite a feat,” he wrote.
Watched #LarryDavid #SNL monologue this AM. He managed to be offensive, insensitive & unfunny all at same time. Quite a feat.
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) November 5, 2017
The joke in question was made during the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star’s opening monologue, where he made crude jokes about Harvey Weinstein and Hollywood’s sexual harassment scandals. Then, he pivoted to a joke about Nazi concentration camps.
“I’ve always been obsessed with women and often wondered, if I’d grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power, and was sent to a concentration camp, would I still be checking out women in the camp? I think I would.”
David continued, “‘Hey Shlomo, look at the one by barracks 8. Oh my God, is she gorgeous?!… I’d like 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 like to take you out for some latkes.’”
The monologue was quickly derided by SNL viewers on Twitter, though some defended David by saying that the complaints were an example of perceived rampant political correctness.