‘The Umbrella Academy’ creator Steve Blackman responds to the show’s anti-Semitism claims
“I wrote these episodes, created the character, and am myself Jewish.”
*Spoilers for season two of ‘The Umbrella Academy’ below*
The return of Netflix’s rag-tag adopted superhero siblings has been met with acclaim from fans and critic alike. We ourselves enjoyed the second series, and found that the characters had grown up since we last saw them. However, one ‘The Umbrella Academy’ anti-Semitism claim has managed to cause controversy online.
Kate Walsh’s The Handler makes a triumphant return to the second series, but because she is arguably the series’ baddie, and also happens to speak Jewish language Yiddish, the character and the Netflix series has been branded as anti-Semitic.
One social media user, named Gab, has posted a thread on Twitter which has nearly 3,000 likes and 1,000 comments. She highlights a range of reasons why the Netflix series is being branded as such, including the fact that Gerard Way’s original graphic novel series doesn’t feature the language being used.
hello folks. i’ve been a big fan of gerard way for a long time. i’m also jewish, which i think cannot be said for most people in this circle of twitter. i’ve pointed out the antisemitism in the umbrella academy, but it seems like it needs some clarification. THREAD
— gab (@gabsaporta) August 2, 2020
read up on “the protocols of the elders of zion,” which in short was an antisemitic text that was heavily spread in the early 1900s saying the jews were secretly planning world domination. it caused lots of antisemitism. the nazis used it
— gab (@gabsaporta) August 2, 2020
i don’t know if the writers are just not catching the antisemitism they’re spreading, or if they’re doing it on purpose. but either way, i think it’s something that needs to be addressed.
— gab (@gabsaporta) August 2, 2020
Releasing a statement on the matter, series creator Steve Blackman tackles the issue by saying that the claims are “factually incorrect”. He said: “The accusation of anti-Semitism in ‘The Umbrella Academy‘ is hurtful and, more importantly, factually incorrect. I wrote these episodes, created the character, and am myself Jewish.
“While I understand audiences sometimes receive things in a different way than creators intend, The Handler was not created as an anti-Semitic character. The Handler speaks every language, including Swedish, Mandarin, Yiddish, and English.”
This isn’t the first time that ‘The Umbrella Academy’ anti-Semitism claims have come out of the woodwork. When the first series aired in 2019, the character of The Handler was condemned by The Board of Deputies of British Jews for its clear “anti-Semitic trope” which made for “uncomfortable viewing”.
