Jewish websites were abuzz following Sarah Silverman’s recent appearance on comic W. Kamau Bell’s FX talk show, “Totally Biased,” during which she wore a necklace with a cross pendant.
“Why is Sarah Silverman wearing a cross?” asked the Forward. “Is Sarah Silverman going Christian?” asked Heeb magazine.
While the interview revolved around issues of racism (“I also make jokes about Mexican people and Jews — I know that doesn’t really count because I’m a Jew,” said Silverman), and the fact that she is genuinely hurt by jokes about her age, not a word was said about her unusual piece of jewelry.
Although Silverman is known as a provocateur, the Jewish press appeared shocked by the incident. “Sarah, I know you think Jesus Is Magic,” wrote Heeb, “but is that really who you’re going to turn to when someone calls you old?
“What is going on here? Have we lost one of our favorite Jewesses to the siren song of the gentiles, or is Sarah just pulling legs/pushing buttons while lamenting her own buttons having been pushed?”
Following the uproar, Silverman’s father and sister rushed to set the record straight. “I told Sarah that her nana (long passed) wanted to know about the cross,” Donald Silverman wrote in a comment to the Heeb piece. “Sarah told me to tell Nana she’s still a Jew. It came from something she wore on a movie set.”
Her sister, Rabbi Susan Silverman, added: “I’m her rabbi sister and called her and asked WTF? She got it, like our dad said, on a recent movie set and she just liked that it pointed to her boobs. Oy.” — ynetnews.com