Sarah Silverman calls out Hollywood's "Jewface" problem in response to Kathryn Hahn's casting as Joan Rivers

Mediaite

Hahn's recent casting as the comedy icon in the Showtime limited series The Comeback Girl was immediately criticized as the latest example of a non-Jew playing a Jewish role. Silverman expounded on the criticism on The Sarah Silverman Podcast. “There’s this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish but people whose Jewishness is their whole being,” she said, adding: “One could argue, for instance, that a Gentile playing Joan Rivers correctly would be doing what is actually called 'Jewface.'” Silverman's examples of "Jewface" include Felicity Jones as Ruth Bader Ginsburg in On the Basis of Sex, Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug in Mrs. America and Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan, also in Mrs. America. “It’s defined as when a non-Jew portrays a Jew with the Jewishness front and center, often with makeup or changing of features, big fake nose, all the New York-y or Yiddish-y inflection,” she said. “And in a time when the importance of representation is seen as so essential and so front and center, why does ours constantly get breached even today in the thick of it?”