Stereotyping of Israelis and Italians

Stereotyping of Israelis and Italians

BLOOMFIELD, N.J., April 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Italian American ONE VOICE Coalition ("ONE VOICE"), a nationwide coalition of anti-bias activists, is vehemently opposed to a casting call for perpetuating a negative stereotype of Israelis and Italians.  The casting call, posted on castingnetworks.com, states "Looking for Israelis and Italian Actors that are not ashamed to admit they can be an asshole to others."  The casting call lists the production as a "Documentary" with the title "Assholes: A Theory".

"Here we go again," stated Dr. Manny Alfano, Founder and President of ONE VOICE. "It is unbelievable that such a blatant and damaging stereotype specifically targets Israelis and Italians.  This is totally unacceptable."

The offending casting call was posted by Ken Lazar Casting Company of New York and Los Angeles on the Casting Networks website soliciting "Israelis and Italian Actors (Especially Males)" from "New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC, West Virginia" for a Principal role in "ASSHOLES: A THEORY/ Documentary."

"They seek Israeli and Italian actors and tell them to purposefully act as a-holes to get the part, and then incredibly purport this to be a documentary – that is doubly insulting," commented Andre' DiMino, Communications Director of ONE VOICE.  "The entertainment industry must end its constant perpetuation of negative and damaging stereotypes of all people, and especially in this case, Israelis and Italians."

ONE VOICE has contacted the Anti-Defamation League ("ADL") about the offensive casting call.  "Every person of Israeli and Italian heritage should be outraged over this casting call, and should be even more concerned if such a damaging, pseudo-documentary will be produced," concluded Dr. Alfano.

ONE VOICE is different from all other Italian American groups in that its sole focus and objective is to fight bias, stereotyping and discrimination against Italian Americans.  It is the only national Italian American organization with this mandate.  ONE VOICE's stated mission is to "…secure the rightful representation of Americans of Italian origin and of all peoples whose paths toward social equality have been impeded.  The powers of intellect, wisdom and due process of law will be brought to bear on all inequities."