Dear Mr. Gibson,

I am one Jew who doesn’t accept your apology today. I don’t accept it, because you have spit on the graves of the Goldwyns, the Warners, the Mayers, the Cohns, the Foxes, the Thalbergs, the Selznicks, the Zukors and the thousands of other Jews both living and dead who have made your questionable career possible.

And so begins the latest internet forward that I’m sure you can count on seeing in your inbox any minute now. This one is a letter “from Steven Spielberg” to Mel Gibson, noting his disappointment with the Bird on a Wire and challenging him to do the right thing and make a donation to the Jewish community.

The truth is, you are an unreformed, unrepentant anti semite of the worst kind, and your hollow outreach is worth less than the price of your next drink, which will surely find itself in your hands before long. I’m buying. Of course, if I am wrong, you could start by donating $1,000,000 today to the State of Israel in her time of need. Surely that is a small public relations price to pay for a man of your stature who “honors all of God’s children”.

Snopes.com has classified this email letter as of undetermined status. But for grammatical reasons, I’m certain it’s not from Spielberg…”anti-semite” spelled with a lowercase S? I mean, please. There’s also something off about the tone, with the snipe about the alcohol…

But then the final detail that strikes Snopes and me with suspicion…that the letter is signed “Steven Spielberg, New Rochelle, NY.” Um, New Rochelle? Try “Pacific Palisades, CA.”

And apparently, some of the versions of the letter are circulating from a “Steven Silberberg.” It’s like the old joke…Spielberg, iceberg, what’s the difference?

About the author

Esther Kustanowitz

For more posts by Esther, see EstherK.com, MyUrbanKvetch.com and JDatersAnonymous.com.

13 Comments

  • OR……There’s a *actually* a kid in New Rochelle named Steven Spielberg who felt inspired, and decided to strike a misspelled blow for all of us!

    Yeah…long shot…I know…

  • The words “antisemite” and “antisemitism” (note the lack of hypen) are used by many to specifically mean “hatred of Jews.” These terms came about when folks were clouding the issue by posing the question “how can certain people be ‘Anti-Semitic’ when they are Semitic themselves?”

    However, the spelling usually omits the space between “anti” and “semitic.” I, too, am skeptical that this is a legitimate email from our friend in New Rochelle Pacific Pallisades…

  • Not really sure what YT is talking about. But in terms of the content, I appreciate the message of the content–Mel, you were an idiot, so make reparations/a sincere apology/change and become a better person–but I don’t think it’s compellingly written enough to have come from Spielberg. I’m not any kind of “tone analysis” expert, but my layperson’s opinion is such that the man who speaks so articulately about the Jews, the Holocaust, etc, would have worded this much more intellectually and more strongly, rather than just list a number of the Jewish families who shaped Hollywood.

    Look, I could be wrong. But I don’t feel like the tone is a match to “that Steven Spielberg.”

  • Its because THAT Spielberg doesn’t have the balls and we all know that.

  • freeeeeedom!!!!!!! freeeeedom!!!!!!!!!!!!!for our eyes and ears! everybody is sick of that fanatic called mel gebbelss..sorry gibsos or in any case is the same…I ody just hope mel gibsosn career is death by now.

  • “Turner is racist and anti-Semitic. He has proclaimed his willingness to have his listeners carry out violence against Jews, blacks, Hispanics, and elected officials.”

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Turner

    Is it legal in America to incite violence? Because if it isn’t then how come his show is still on air?

  • Inciting violence is not allowed. Discussing the possibility of using violence is protected speech.

  • Nothing ever satisfies a jew eh??

    Maybe we should cut Mel up into little pieces for telling the TRUTH eh bloodsuckers??

  • I think that if you do something you are passionate about, you should not apologize for it, otherwise, it would look like you’re a hypocrite. and yes, Spielberg does not live in New Rochelle. If you’re going to use somebody else’s name, better not get caught by such trivial details.