CNN
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After coming underneath hearth for its illustration of Jews, The Academy Museum of Movement Footage is vowing to make adjustments to its exhibit that showcases Hollywood’s Jewish pioneers, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles museum instructed CNN.
The permanent exhibit — known as “Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital” — goals to spotlight the contributions and historical past of Jewish immigrants like Jack and Harry Warner (Warner Bros.), Harry Cohn (Columbia), Louis B. Mayer (MGM), Adolph Zukor (Paramount) and others who laid the groundwork for Hollywood’s studio system.
The exhibit, greater than two years within the making, was spearheaded by affiliate curator Dara Jaffe and opened on Could 19. It was met with outcry in a letter from a gaggle known as United Jewish Writers, which was signed by greater than 300 Hollywood executives, writers and actors. They criticized use of the phrases “tyrant,” “oppressive,” “womanizer,” “predator,” and different phrases within the exhibition they described as “the one part of the museum that vilifies these it purports to rejoice.”
“Whereas we acknowledge the worth in confronting Hollywood’s problematic previous, the despicable double normal of the Jewish Founders exhibit, blaming solely the Jews for that problematic previous, is unacceptable and, whether or not intentional or not, antisemitic,” they wrote.
In response, an Academy Museum spokesperson instructed CNN adjustments shall be carried out “instantly.”
“We’ve heard the considerations from members of the Jewish group concerning some elements of our exhibition,” the spokesperson mentioned in a press release Tuesday. “We take these considerations critically and are dedicated to creating adjustments to the exhibition to handle them.”
The adjustments will enable the museum “to inform these vital tales with out utilizing phrasing which will unintentionally reinforce stereotypes,” the assertion continued. “This will even assist to eradicate any ambiguities.”
Along with updating the exhibit, an advisory group of “specialists from main museums targeted on the Jewish group, civil rights, and the historical past of different marginalized teams” shall be convened to advise on “advanced questions on context and any essential additions” to the exhibition.
“We’re deeply dedicated to telling these vital tales in an trustworthy, respectful, and impactful method,” the spokesperson added.
The Academy Museum’s “Hollywoodland” exhibit took place as a direct response to earlier criticism when the museum opened in 2021 that it had nearly solely missed the contributions of Jewish pioneers within the business.
The museum is housed within the Saban Constructing, after launching with a $50 million donation from Israeli-American businessman Haim Saban. Its foyer contains galleries from two of essentially the most distinguished Jewish figures in Hollywood: Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who every donated $10 million to assist construct the museum.
This previous January, forward of the 2024 Academy Awards, a gaggle of Hollywood stars, together with Tiffany Haddish, Josh Gad, David Schwimmer, Debra Messing and extra, signed a letter to the Academy, urgent to incorporate Jews within the group’s inclusion and variety requirements and criticizing the group for the oversight.