Der Sturmer Special

Documentary attracts controversy

It’s the surprise smash hit that everyone in the nation is talking about. Channel 4’s documentary ‘My Big Fat International Zionists Responsible For Global Financial Recession Wedding,’ has drawn millions of viewers, and numbers have increased weekly due to word of mouth publicity generated by memorable scenes of Jewish people rubbing their hands together with glee over financial transactions, having swarthy faces and saying ‘Oy Vey’ to each other.

However, the show has not been without its share of controversy. Some members of the Jewish community have reacted angrily to the show, arguing that it reinforces racial stereotypes by selectively cutting material to show Jewish culture as eccentric, laughable and sometimes criminal. One controversial inclusion has been the practice of ‘grabbing’, where collections of Jewish financiers ‘grab’ significant percentages of a country’s wealth, while retaining loyalty to an international Jewish community, rather than to the nation states they reside in. Critics also point out that much of the show’s research seems to consist of soundbites from a scouse bird who runs a bagel shop, who once read ‘Oliver Twist’ and ‘The Merchant of Venice’.

The show’s creator, Miles Titwank, has been quick to defend the program. Titwank is part of a successful production team which has worked with Channel 4 to produce many groundbreaking documentaries like, ‘The woman who dated an octopus’ and ‘People choking to death’. He argues that ‘My big fat international Zionists responsible for global financial recession wedding’ works hard to provide viewers with an intimate and behind the scenes insight into a culture that is often hidden and secretive. ‘We worked in collaboration with many people from the Jewish community’, Titwank points out. ‘There have been some comments on Twitter and facebook from people about organising ‘pogroms’ and ‘crystal nights’ against ‘avaricious Jews’, but that simply has nothing to do with the program that we have made.’

Michael Grade, former chief executive of Channel 4, who himself comes from a prominent Jewish family, said yesterday that ‘for anyone to make a program today about the Jewish community, which exploits and reinforces racial stereotypes and prejudices in such a dangerous way, would be unthinkable. That’s why we’ll have to rely on a more vulnerable minority group, like, er, gypsies.’