Lea Michele, right, and Cory Monteith, who died in a Vancouver hotel room on July 13, 2013, arriving at the 12th Annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles, June 8, 2013. (Helga Esteb\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Jewish \u201cGlee\u201d star, 26, was in Mexico when she learned that Monteith was found dead in a Vancouver hotel room on Saturday. \u201cShe was shaking when she heard the news,\u201d a friend told the Daily News.<\/p>\n
While the Canadian-born Monteith, 31, who co-starred with Michele on \u201cGlee,\u201d openly struggled with substance abuse (his last rehab stint was in April), the cause of his death is still unknown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have interviewed everyone he was with the night before,\u201d Vancouver Police Constable Brian Montague said Sunday. \u201cFor the most part, it has been turned to the coroner\u2019s office, who will be determining the next steps with respect to establishing cause of death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivers’ writers want justice<\/strong><\/p>\nThe writers on “Fashion Police\u201d have had plenty of practice taking swipes at big-name stars. Now they\u2019re using the expertise to go after their own boss, Joan Rivers.<\/p>\n
In a three-minute video called \u201cDear Joan: Can We Talk?\u201d the disgruntled writers come down on Rivers for not taking their side in a labor dispute with the E! television network. In April the writers went on strike \u201cseeking the basics: health insurance, a pension plan, and fair pay consistent with industry standards,\u201d according to the video.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoan Rivers is not just a star but a member of the Writers Guild, and that she won\u2019t support her fellow Writers Guild members is astonishing,\u201d one writer said. \u201cTo me it\u2019s just a basic fairness issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group claims they attempted to sit down and talk it over in person, but that Rivers was unreceptive. They believe the veteran Jewish comic has the power to get their demands met and are frustrated by ther lack of support.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s convincing stuff, but as they say, there are two sides to every story. We\u2019re hoping Rivers finds some new writers to draft her response.<\/p>\n
Aly and Amar’e at Maccabiah<\/strong><\/p>\nJewish gymnast extraordinaire Aly Raisman will be among the 1,100-strong U.S. contingent at the 19th Maccabiah Games starting Thursday. Some 8,000 athletes from around the world are descending on Israel for the quadrennial event known as \u201cJewish Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another big-name American to look out for at the games is Amar\u2019e Stoudemire. The New York Knicks star, who traveled to Israel a few years ago to explore his Jewish roots, won’t be lacing up his Nikes but rather is serving as an assistant coach for the Canadian team.<\/p>\n
The games run through July 30.<\/p>\n
Catskills comedy school<\/strong><\/p>\nFor decades, the hundreds of hotels and bungalow colonies in the Catskill Mountains offered Jews a summer getaway experience and provided a venue for Jewish entertainers to gain an audience.<\/p>\n
Now a new documentary hitting theaters at the end of July explores the birth of modern standup comedy in the so-called Borscht Belt — what the film calls \u201ca boot camp for the greatest generation of comedians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Comedy Went to School,\u201d co-directed by Ron Frank and Mevlut Akkaya, and written by Lawrence Richards, paints a picture of the rise of Jewish comedians amid the expansion of a classic Jewish-American summer destination.<\/p>\n
Robert Klein narrates the documentary, which features accounts of their upstate New York exploits from Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Jackie Mason,Jerry Stiller, Mort Sahl, Mickey Freeman and Dick Gregory, a non-Jew who happens to be black.<\/p>\n
There are interviews as well with family members of the Kutshers and Grossingers, two families whose hotels laid the groundwork for the booming Catskills business.<\/p>\n
As Lewis observes in the film, the Borscht Belt was a place that offered freedom of expression for young, talented Jews.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was,” he said, “a place to be bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weiner featured in MoSex<\/strong><\/p>\nRemember the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal? What, you say, the money shots and sexy messages that once were burned into your brain have pretty much been erased now that he\u2019s running for mayor? Well, the New York Museum of Sex will gladly refresh your memory.<\/p>\n
The \u201cUniverse of Desire\u201d exhibit currently on view at MoSex features a Facebook exchange between Weiner and Las Vegas blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss in which the Jewish former congressman brags about his sexual prowess, The Huffington Post reports. The museum\u2019s curator, Sarah Forbes, describes Weiner\u2019s words as \u201cartifacts of sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exhibit, an exploration of how \u201cdesire has gone viral,\u201d runs through September. Hopefully it omits any of those photos we\u2019ve worked so hard to forget.<\/p>\n
For the latest Jewish celebrity news, visit JTA’s 6 Degrees (No Bacon) blog.<\/p>\n
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