Rivers Called On To Apologize For Comparing Klum's Dress To The Holocaust
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) – Joan Rivers might not be invited to Seder this year.
During Monday's episode of "Fashion Police" on E! Entertainment Television, Rivers raised eyebrows with her comment about a dress worn by supermodel Heidi Klum.
"The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens," Rivers said.
The comment was met with laughter from Rivers and her co-hosts. Rivers nor E! issued an apology for the remark, even as the segment has gone on to air another four times this week on the network.
Predictably, Rivers' remark has been no laughing matter for some people.
"Of all people, Joan Rivers should know better," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League and Holocaust survivor, said in a statement. "This remark is so vulgar and offensive to Jews and Holocaust survivors, and indeed to all Americans, that we cannot believe it made it to the airwaves."
It isn't the first time Rivers has decided to compare something or someone to the Holocaust in a favorable or unfavorable light. When Costco decided not to carry Rivers' book last year, the media personality compared the company's book selection process to that of a Nazi regime.
The ADL has sent a formal letter to the network, urging Rivers to apologize and to remove the segment.
"It is vulgar and offensive for anybody to use the death of six million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to make a joke, but this is especially true for someone who is Jewish and who proudly and publicly wears her Jewishness on her sleeve," Foxman said in the statement.
