Italian comic actor, director and
screenwriter Massimo Ceccherini on Monday apologised for saying
"Jews always win" after Matteo Garrone's migrant drama Io
Capitano, for which he co-wrote the screenplay, lost out to
Auschwitz-set The Zone of Interest in the best foreign film
category at the Oscars.
"I apologise if anyone was offended, it was not my intention to
offend anyone", the 58-year-old Ceccherini told ANSA after
Italy's Jewisn community said it was "extremely serious and
unacceptable" that the actor had "revived one of the saddest and
most common anti-Semitic stereotypes".
Ceccherini, who rose to fame as a comic foil in Leonardo
Pieraccioni's Tuscan romcoms, was accused of perpetuating the
trope that Jews rule Hollywood, a claim that led to Mad Max and
Braveheart star Mel Gibson being blackballed for several years
until recently.
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