Norway’s state broadcaster has been accused of antisemitism after airing a cartoon showing a Scrabble player forming the words “Jewish swine”.
The NRK network posted the video as part of its “satirical” cartoon series.
It showed a young man playing Scrabble against an older Jewish man dressed in Strictly Orthodox garb.
The Jewish man is shown getting frustrated as his opponent struggles to come up with a word, before the board turns and we can see that the young man has come up with a word — “Jodesvin”, meaning “Jewish swine” — but doesn’t want to play it and so is trying to find an alternative.
Social media users described the cartoon as “antisemitic”, “racist”, “repugnant” and “not remotely funny”.
Charlo Halvorsen, NRK’s entertainment editor, denied that the cartoon was antisemitic, telling the Norwegian Aftenpost news site that “the Scrabble player made an indecent and indefensible word that we can’t and shouldn’t use. But he’s tempted to win.”
Others described it as an example of awkward humour.
Responding to a complaint, the NRK Twitter account said: “we can assure you the video was never intended to be antisemitic. Out of context, the word is certainly offensive.
"That is also the reason why the decent scrabble-player is reluctant to play it, even if it would earn him a lot of points according to the rules of the game. Any other derogatory term could have substituted this one.”
That is also the reason why the decent scrabble-player is reluctant to play it, even if it would earn him a lot of points according to the rules of the game. Any other derogatory term could have substituted this one. 2/2
— NRK (@NRKno) July 21, 2019
But it was pointed out that the animators who created the video, Norske Grønnsaker, had posted it on their own Facebook page, urging their followers to “tag a Jew”.
The animators subsequently changed the wording on their Facebook post to read “how much trouble can Scrabble create?”
In Britain, Board of Deputies Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb said such tropes needed to be called out “whenever they appear”.
She said: “It is appalling and deeply offensive for Jewish people to see Norway’s state broadcaster NRK air a ‘Jewish swine’ cartoon. NRK needs to take down the cartoon and immediately apologise.”
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