Following his public support of “Free Palestine,” Adam Brody is facing backlash not only from viewers, but a recent colleague.
Ahead of Season 3 of Nobody Wants This, premiering Oct. 22 on Netflix, the show’s former technical consultant, Rabbi Steve Leder, slammed the 2x Golden Globe-nominated actor as an “ignorant Jew” for referring to Israel’s attack on Gaza as a genocide.
“Hi Adam, you might not remember me. My name is Rabbi Steve Leder, and I was the technical advisor for Season 1 of Nobody Wants This,” he prefaced in the video. “My job was to make sure that your character was authentic and that everything in Season 1 about Judaism was authentic.”
In Nobody Wants This, agnostic podcaster Joanne Williams (Kristen Bell) begins an unexpected romance with Rabbi Noah Roklov (Brody), which shakes both their families as Joanne immerses herself in Noah’s culture and decides to convert to Judaism.
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Leder continued, “Your pronouncement the other day about a genocide in Gaza was truly shocking, not only because of your misuse and mischaracterization of the word ‘genocide’—there is no genocide in Gaza, there are genocides happening in other countries happening but you failed to mention any of them. You, by your own admission are a relatively ignorant Jew, and your ignorance really showed the other day.
“If you’re gonna use a word like ‘genocide,’ you oughta know what it means. And by the way, being so flippant about a word like ‘genocide’—’hey put me down for [thinking it’s a] genocide’ like you’re asking for a table for two at Craig’s is disgusting,” he added. “Here’s some more technical advice; if you nothing about something, you should say nothing about it.”
Since Israel’s ongoing strikes on Gaza in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, multiple organizations have classified Israel’s actions as a genocide against Palestinians, including the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
Last week, Brody told GQ, “Put me down as thinking it’s a genocide. Put me down as wanting a free Palestine. It’s awful that it’s taken so much death and misery, but it does feel like it’s reaching a breaking point that it should have a while ago. I’m hopeful that another administration can really do some good and correct some of these policies that are helping that situation be as awful as it is.”
Brody’s comments came after several of his Hollywood peers were among around 100 arrested outside the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, where they were protesting the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Thursday.
