Netflix film Do Revenge – dubbed the ‘modern day Mean Girls’ – is accused of anti-Semitism after viewers spot the villain wears a Star of David and another character reads a book by a self-proclaimed ‘Jew-hating’ author
- Teen movie Do Revenge has been a hit since its September 16 Netflix release
- Viewers accused it of being anti-Semitic for making the villain, Max, Jewish
- Max seen wearing a Star of David necklace and using Yiddish slang in movie
Netflix film Do Revenge has been accused of anti-Semitism for choosing to make the villain Jewish.
The movie, which has become one of the most popular titles on the platform since its release on September 16, follows Drea (Camilla Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke) as they hatch a plan to get revenge on each other’s enemies.
The movie’s main antagonist is Max Broussard: Drea’s manipulative, misogynistic and extremely wealthy ex-boyfriend, who is played by Austin Abrams.
However, viewers on Twitter and TikTok have taken an issue with the fact Max was seen wearing a Star of David necklace and was heard using Jewish slang in the movie and accused Do Revenge of being anti-Semitic for portraying a Jewish person as the villain.
Some have also claimed the title is loosely based on Strangers on a Train, by Patricia Highsmith, who was unapologetically anti-Semitic and called herself a ‘Jew hater’.
The book has not been credited as a source material but Eleanor is seen reading the title at the start of the film.
Netflix film Do Revenge has been accused of anti-Semitism for choosing the make the villain Jewish. The main antagonist, Max Broussard, centre, was wearing a Star of David and using Yiddish slang
Above, a close up of the Star of David necklace worn by the character throughout the film
Max, Drea’s manipulative, misogynistic and extremely wealthy ex-boyfriend, who is played by Austin Abrams, is the movie’s main villain. Pictured in another scene with his necklace
Viewers said they loved the movie but were ‘tired’ that Netflix made the villain wear a Star of David necklace
FEMAIL has contacted Netflix for comment.
From the start of the film Max is portrayed as the villain. It is revealed he has pressured his ex-girlfriend into sending him an intimate video of herself which he leaked to classmates.
Max is never explicitly identified as being Jewish but the teen is seen wearing a Star of David necklace several times throughout the movie, and uses the Yiddish term ‘kvell,’ which means feeling ‘happy and proud’ during a speech that reveals just how evil he is.
Viewers called out the streaming giant for making the only visible Jewish person of the movie a villain.
‘Funny “coincidence” how in the movie #DoRevenge the villain of the movie is wearing a Star of David on his bare chest & speaks Yiddish during his evil monologue at the end of the movie despite not giving the audience 1 HINT that he’s #Jewish for the entire film,’ one said.
Austin, pictured behind the scenes of the movie, portrays Max, who pressures Drea into sending an intimate video of herself to him so he can leak it to the whole school
‘Wanted to thank the non-Jewish writers and director of “Do Revenge” for making sure the wealthiest, most manipulative, most politically connected, lying sack of s*** character in the storyline was a guy wearing a Magen David (Jewish star) around his neck. F*** you,’ another viewer wrote.
‘I really enjoyed #DoRevenge, but why’d they have to throw in that the villain is Jewish at the very end, when he is at his most nefarious? His Jewishness literally has nothing to do with anything. It left a very sour taste in my mouth,’ another said.
‘Love almost everything about Do Revenge – the music choices were fire, I LOVED the camp nature of the film, and the actors were all on point; BUT did they have to have the main villain wear a magen David during his big villain speech/scene? Signed, a tired Jew,’ one wrote.
Highsmith, pictured in 1957, was vocally anti-Semetic and called herself a ‘Jew Hater,’ who referred to the Holocaust as ‘semicaust’ or ‘Holocaust Inc’
Another wrote on TikTok: ‘Netflix after making the villain a misogynistic rich and entitled teen boy, piece of s*** who is literally called “the devil”, wear a very apparent star of David and uses yiddish slang,’ another wrote on TikTok.
She added: ‘I do not have a problem with the character of Max wearing a star of David, since Austin Abrams who plays him has Russian Jewish parents.
‘The problem is that making the villain in this heavily advertised and hyped up movie Jewish only adds to stereotypes of Jewish people.’
‘Anyone else deeply disturbed that in the new movie #DoRevenge the bad guy – who represents all things evil in society – is a white passing über wealthy Jewish guy? Anti-Semitism is alive and well and it breaks me every time,’ another wrote.
Viewers online said they felt portraying Max as a villain played into the hands of several anti-Semitic stereotype used to vilified Jews
However, the Times of Israel noted that Max’s sister in the movie, Gabbi, who is played by Talia Ryder, is also Jewish and a figure of morality throughout the film.
Though, some noted that Gabbi did not have anything that testified of her Jewish heritage in the movie like her brother did.
It has also been pointed out that Do Revenge shares similarities to the plot of Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith, a 1952 novel where two men meet by chance and decide to murder people for each other.
Patricia Highsmith was very vocal about her dislike of Jews, going as far as calling herself a ‘Jew hater.’
In 2017, The Guardian reported that the author behind Carol and The Talented Mr Ripley called the Holocaust ‘the semicaust’ because she was disappointed more Jews didn’t die in concentration camps.
She also referred to the Holocaust as ‘Holocaust Inc,’ to suggest Jews later profited from it.
Richard Bradford, professor of English at Ulster University, who wrote Devils, Lusts and Strange Desires: The Life of Patricia Highsmith in 2017, also revealed that the author’s anti-Semitic views originated in her years working for a Jewish publisher in the 1940s.
‘She called him a “kike” in her diaries and wrote that he had “Jewed” her out of a decent wage,’ Bradford said.
It was also reported that while living in Switzerland in the 1980s, she wrote to government bodies and newspapers under at least 40 aliases deploring the state of Israel and the ‘influence’ of the Jews.
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