The TV show “Sesame Street” featured black and Jewish actress Kat Graham in its celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, which began on May 1, drawing both support from Jews and antisemitic backlash on social media.
“Happy Jewish American Heritage Month,” it wrote. “Join us this May as we honor and celebrate our Jewish American friends and neighbors in our communities.”
“As a proud Jewish American, I am so excited to celebrate my community and heritage this month and every month,” said Graham, best known for her role in the teen drama series “The Vampire Diaries.”
In the video, Graham told puppet Abby Cadabby that one of her favorite traditions is making matzah-ball soup. “My grandma taught me,” she said. Her mother, Natasha, is Jewish, and her grandparents were Holocaust refugees from Eastern Europe.
“I cannot express how much I love that my black kids get to watch Jews of Color talking about matzah-ball soup on ‘Sesame Street,’” said Carly Pildis, advocacy director of One Mitzvah a Day. “Incredibly meaningful, especially now.”
Joan Leslie McGill, executive director of the U.S.-Israel Education Association, thanked the show for recognizing the month, saying “this is a wonderful lesson for young Americans.”
The post drew backlash from James Fishback, a Republican running for governor in Florida who has a history of antisemitic, anti-Israel rhetoric. An array of other popular antisemitic figures chimed in, including MMA fighter Jake Shields, who posted: “They should rename it happy genocide month.”
A video in April celebrating National Arab American Heritage Month, featuring Egyptian-American actor Ramy Youssef, faced similar responses, with one commenter calling it “Jihadi Street.”
