Tribeca Festival slams “offensive” Palestinian rape joke on red carpet
The Tribeca Film Festival has released a statement regarding the “offensive and unacceptable” jokes made on the red carpet for The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan) by comedian Elon Gold and influencer Lizzy Savetsky regarding the rape of Palestinians.
A viral clip spreading on social media saw Gold note on the red carpet that the forthcoming movie was filmed in Israel.
“I was only raped by two Israeli dogs,” Gold told Savetsky in the footage, who then replied, “I thought they only raped Palestinians.”
In a statement referenced by Variety, the festival apologised for the nature of this joke, sharing: “Sexual violence and human suffering should never be mocked or minimized.”
It added, “The comments do not reflect the Tribeca Festival’s values, and we regret the hurt and offense they have caused.” The festival has since been unable to reach the filmmakers.
Gold stars alongside Shuli Rand, Alon Neuman, and Eitan Blum in The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan), which was directed and co-written by Gidi Dar.
The film follows Moishe Badhan, played by Rand, a formerly famous badhan in Jerusalem who has been struggling to find work due to his alcoholism. When his daughter becomes set on getting married, the comedian has to find a way to raise $20,000 for the wedding.
The festival, in its 25th year, was initially founded in the wake of 9/11 to bring people back to Lower Manhattan after the tragedy, but has since expanded to include all of New York City’s boroughs.
This year’s festival was opened with the premiere of Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That’s the Weight of the World, a new documentary heralded by Ahmir Questlove Thompson.
The festival, running from June 3rd to 14th, is showing two Israeli films this year. The second, What is to Come, is the new feature from Ruthy Pribar, starring Ronit Yudkevitz and Yaakov Zada Daniel.
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