New Bradley Cooper film slammed for using fake nose to play Jewish actor

'The "big nose" stereotype for Jews comes from Nazi propaganda meant to dehumanize us'

The 'Jewface' debate was reignited after the trailer for the film, Maestro, dropped on Tuesday.

In the film, Cooper stars as the legendary composer, whereas Carey Mulligan features as his wife, Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein.

Cooper, who is of Irish-italian descent and was raised Catholic, has been called out on social media for his use of a prostethic nose in the film, which he also directed.

One critic wrote on X (formerly Twitter): The "big nose" stereotype for Jews comes from Nazi propaganda meant to dehumanize us. They said that you could tell a Jew from their long, hooked nose. And so we were othered.

"We know how that story ended. To see it in this day and age makes me wonder if the world even remembers."

Another commented: "Bradley Cooper should not be playing Leonard Bernstein. He should not be wearing a prosthetic nose. This is Jew-face & is as serous & offensive as Black-face or the racialising of other minorities. Stop erasing Jews. Stop erasing Jew-hate. Jews do count."

A third wrote: "Seriously. Bradley cooper shouldn’t be playing Bernstein. I have never said that Jews have to be played by Jews. But the idea of a queer Jewish legend being played by a straight white dude with a fake nose just makes me want to never watch a film again."

Others, however, have claimed that Cooper isn't wearing a large prosthetic nose because Bernstein is Jewish, but rather because Bernstein had a large nose.

West Wing star, Joshua Malina, who is Jewish, told Page Six: "I do not take issue with Bradley Cooper being made to look like a real person. Were an actor to don a big hooked nose to play Shylock, or a random, fictitious Jew, I think I’d have a problem with the propagation of a well-worn antisemitic stereotype.

“Jews do not, in fact, have bigger noses than other people do; Leonard Bernstein did. That’s the end of the story for me.”

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