Tim Allen’s Trump Nazi Germany joke on Jimmy Kimmel Live sparks controversy
By Hector Cruz
The Anne Frank Center is demanding an apology from Tim Allen after he compared Hollywood’s anti-Trump stance to 1930s Germany on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
Tim Allen is one of the few actors in Hollywood to be open about his support of Donald Trump, recently revealing in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he even attended the new president’s inauguration in January, though he quickly made it clear that he was there to visit both Democrats and Republicans alike as a way to stave off criticism from his peers, likening liberal Hollywood to “’30s Germany.”
“I’m not kidding, you gotta be real careful around here, you get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody believes, it’s like ’30s Germany,” Allen said, after Kimmel insisted he wasn’t attacking him for attending the event.
It was a mostly lighthearted moment that got a hearty laugh from the host, but as we’ve seen in the past, comparing any group to Nazis tends to spark a negative reaction, and that’s exactly what happened with Allen’s comments. In a Facebook post on Sunday, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect, a New York-based non-profit organization which “fights prejudice and advocates for Anne Frank’s dream of a kinder and fairer world” demanded an apology from Allen to the Jewish people for making “a deeply offensive characterization that trivializes the horrors imposed on Jews in Nazi Germany” during the Holocaust.
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Steven Goldstein, the center’s executive director, said in a statement:
"“Tim, have you lost your mind? No one in Hollywood today is subjecting you or anyone else to what the Nazis imposed on Jews in the 1930s – the world’s most evil program of dehumanization, imprisonment and mass brutality, implemented by an entire national government, as the prelude for the genocide of nearly an entire people. Sorry, Tim, that’s just not the same as getting turned down for a movie role. It’s time for you to leave your bubble to apologize to the Jewish people and, to be sure, the other peoples also targeted by the Nazis.”"
As Time reports, Goldstein made it clear last month that he’s no fan of Trump, slamming him for his delayed response in condemning the growing number of anti-Semitic incidents since his election, calling his comments on the issue during his first address to Congress “too little” and “too late,” while arguing that “the President’s sudden acknowledgement is a Band-Aid on the cancer of anti-Semitism that has infected his own Administration.”
This is not the first time Allen has taken the Hollywood community to task for what he views as their “hypocritical” stance on Trump. In an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News last year, the comedian argued that though they dislike Trump for being a bully, they themselves often display bullying behavior towards anyone who expresses support for the polarizing politician.
Watch Allen’s controversial remarks on Jimmy Kimmel Live below:
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Jimmy Kimmel Live airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m., while Allen can be seen Fridays at 8 p.m. on Last Man Standing, both on ABC.