Academy Museum to amend ‘Jewish Founders’ exhibition amid backlash
After extensive protesting, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles have announced that they will be revising their current exhibition on the history of Jewish roots in the Hollywood film industry.
Last month, the museum opened a new exhibition entitled Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital, detailing the history of Jewish influences on the development of Hollywood. However, the exhibition was quickly met with criticism from Jewish leaders and campaign groups, who claimed that the exhibit was antisemitic for its negative portrayal of certain Jewish figures in the film industry.
The group United Jewish Writers penned an open letter to the museum, attacking “the despicable double standard of the Jewish Founders exhibit”. The letter continued, suggesting that the exhibit blamed “only the Jews” for Hollywood’s problematic past, deeming the exhibition “anti-semetic” and calling on the museum to “redo this exhibit so that it celebrates the Jewish founders of Hollywood”.
Specifically, the United Jewish Writers objected to the use of words like “tyrant,” “womaniser” and “predator” when discussing figures like Harry Cohn. As the president of Colombia Pictures during Hollywood’s golden age, Cohn was known for his sexually aggressive behaviour towards female actors, often grooming young actors in return for on-screen roles.
In response to the criticism from Jewish campaign groups, the Academy Museum released a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The museum noted that they “heard the concerns from members of the Jewish community” and are “committed to making changes to the exhibition to address them”.
“We will be implementing the first set of changes immediately,” the museum continued, “they will allow us to tell these important stories without using phrasing that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes”.
They also noted that the museum would work with “an advisory group of experts from leading museums focused on the Jewish community, civil rights and the history of other marginalised groups” to rectify the exhibit.
It is, at the time of writing, unclear how long these changes will take to enforce. It is also unclear how the museum will tackle the history of many Hollywood figures, like Harry Cohn, without acknowledging their problematic nature.
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