29 July 2020; MEMO: Hollywood’s Seth Rogen on Monday said he was fed a “huge amount” of lies about Israel, as Palestinians were left out of the narrative.
In the podcast WTF with Marc Maron, Rogen, who is Jewish himself, sat down with Marc Maron to promote his new film An American Pickle and discuss their shared Jewish heritage, which was described as the “Jewiest talk with Marc that two Jews ever had on this show” and included a trigger warning for anti-Semites. The talk turned to the subject of Israel and the Jewish diaspora.
Rogen said:
"I also think as a Jewish person I was fed a huge amount of lies about Israel my entire life. They never tell you that ‘oh by the way there were people there’, they make it seem like it was just some land sitting there. Like the fucking doors were open."
To which Maron agreed, chiming in: “Ours for the taking.”
“Yeah, they literally forget to include the fact to every young Jewish person basically, like, ‘oh by the way, there were people there’.”
Maron said: “They just want to make sure you were frightened for your own survival to the point that when you get old enough, you will make sure that money goes to Israel, and that trees are planted, and that you always speak highly of Israel, and Israel must survive no matter what.”
Rogen replied. “Yeah, and I don’t understand it at all. I think for Jewish people especially, who view themselves as progressive, and who view themselves as analytical, people who ask a lot of questions, and really challenge the status quo, like – what are we doing?”
Rogen further expressed support for spreading the Jewish people throughout the world, rather than form the state of Israel, joking that they shouldn’t put “all their Jews in one basket”.
Maron asked Rogen: “Could you imagine living in Israel? Would you ever go live in Israel?” to which Rogen answered no.
Maron laughed and continued to say that he believed the same.
Rogen went on to describe the concept of Israel as an “antiquated thought process”.
He said: “If it’s for religious reasons, I don’t agree with it, because I think religion is silly, if it for the preservation of Jewish people, it makes no sense, because you don’t keep something you’re trying to preserve all in one place, especially when that place has proven to be pretty volatile.”
“I’m trying to keep all these things safe, I’m going to put them in my blender. That’ll do it.”
Seth Rogen rose to fame for his role in the film Knocked Up. He has gone on to write, direct, star in, and produce award winning films.
Rogen’s film An American Pickle, which follows the story of Jewish immigrant and struggling labourer Herschel Greenbaum who falls into a vat of pickles in 1920 then wakes up 100 years later in modern day New York, having been perfectly preserved by the pickle brine, is released on 6 August.
