'Nobody Wants This' Creator Says She Disagrees With Star Adam Brody's Accusation That Israel Is Committing 'Genocide'
Erin Foster says it is okay to differ with her lead actor and tells Jewish fans, 'I see you and I hear you.' A Jewish PR executive praises her and says Hollywood leaves little room to defend Israel.
The creator of Netflix's "Nobody Wants This" says she does not share her star's view of Israel, Fox News reports.
The disagreement. Erin Foster was asked about Adam Brody's remarks on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast. "It's complicated," she said. "While I love Adam, I also disagree with him and that's OK." She said the show's set is like "dinner tables around the world where people are having debate and discussion and disagreeing." Her message to Jewish viewers: "I want our Jewish fans to know that I see you and I hear you and I understand how you feel." The full podcast episode airs Oct. 27.
What Brody said. In a September GQ interview, Brody said, "Put me down as thinking it's a genocide. Put me down as wanting a free Palestine." He also said he hopes "another administration can really do some good," and described the first Trump election as something that "woke everyone" into activism. Fox says it asked Brody's team for comment and includes no reply.
Her purpose. Foster said she made the show as "a love letter to Judaism," drawn from her own experience of becoming Jewish, at a time with "almost zero positive representation of Jewish people." She added that everyone is entitled to a different opinion.
The outside view. Mor Greenberg, who runs MorMedia Group and works with Jewish nonprofits and pro-Israel groups, called it "disappointing" to see a show celebrating Jewish identity make news over comments "deeply upsetting to many in the Jewish community." She said Hollywood pressures people toward a "fashionable position" on Israel with "very little room for anyone who dares to defend it," and that playing a rabbi on TV "doesn't make him a spokesperson for the Jewish community."
Note for readers: Foster's comments are mild and the sharper criticism comes from Greenberg, a pro-Israel communications executive. Brody's quotes are from the GQ interview as Fox reproduces them, and we did not see the interview.