Former neo-Nazi says watching Seinfeld made him realise his antisemitism was ‘stupid’

One of these included watching Jewish comedian Jery Seinfeld's hugely popular sitcom.

Michaelis recalled what his partner told him: "'You have got to see this show. You are going to love it'... 'Just watch one episode - you don't need to tell anybody'."

Michaelis listened and watched the show. "I fell in love with it," he said. " I totally related to the quintessential Jewish humour created by Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David... I loved that show.

"It made it really difficult to be an antisemite... as any Seinfeld fan knows, you don't go through a waking day without at least one, if not multiple Seinfeld references. Whilst most people just get a chuckle... I would get that chuckle but then that [voice] would say, 'does Jerry Seinfeld get to live by your rule, and if he does does he get to be very funny while you’re murdering other Jews?'

"And the only answer to that... was [that I] was wrong. This ideology I had assumed as my identity was hollow and false. So daily Seinfeld references really drove home the futility and stupidity of my antisemitism."

Michaelis reformed when he was 23 years old and as well as citing Seinfeld as part of his reform, also spoke about the "kindness" of Jewish people when he "needed it most" which showed him "how a human being should treat another human being".