The Umbrella Academy slammed for ‘antisemitism’ in Jewish supervillain scenes from Netflix’s season 2
The Umbrella Academy has been slammed for 'antisemitism' in season two scenes.
The popular superhero comedy-drama has been at the centre of controversy after returning to Netflix with its new episodes last Friday (July 31).
Viewers have complained about the depiction of the show's supervillain, The Handler who is a high-ranking official of an organisation which controls time.
Played by Kate Walsh, the evil boss is shown speaking Yiddish, a language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews.
One viewer said on Twitter: "idk what to tell you, The Umbrella Academy having the ‘secret world domination cult’ speaking Yiddish is definitely, intentionally anti-semitic.”
Another added: "here's ur reminder umbrella academy is kinda anti semitic or at least has antisemitic stereotypes".
The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book series created and written by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics.
Accusing the series of "antisemitic dog whistling" TikTok user @nyarchivist commented: "Having the villain speak that language is [saying], ‘Look at these big Jewish villains, aren’t they vile, look at their gross language.’
Most read in News TV
"That is what it is. That is what it’s always been, because society is built on believing that Jewish people control everything. That is antisemitism.”
When scenes were first aired last year of The Handler speaking Yiddish, The Board of Deputies of British Jews wrote an open letter against the show and said: "The use of a Yiddish saying by the evil boss of an organisation which controls the world’s timeline is clearly an anti-Semitic trope.
“Whether intentional or not, this makes for very uncomfortable viewing. Netflix should take action to remove the racism from this scene.”
Showrunner Steve Blackman responded to recent comments and said in a statement: "The accusation of antisemitism in The Umbrella Academy is hurtful and, more importantly, factually incorrect. I wrote these episodes, created the character, and am myself Jewish.
"While I understand audiences sometimes receive things in a different way than creators intend, The Handler was not created as an anti-Semitic character."
He explained: "The Handler speaks every language, including Swedish, Mandarin, Yiddish, and English as we saw this season, and The Commission is not an evil organisation; they do not control finances, governments, or the media.
"The only thing they control - and more importantly, protect - is the timeline of our fictional Umbrella Academy universe."
The Umbrella Academy seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix now.